IPTF14yb: The first discovery of a gamma-ray burst afterglow independent of a high-energy trigger

S. Bradley Cenko; Alex L. Urban; Daniel A. Perley; Assaf Horesh; Alessandra Corsi; Derek B. Fox; Yi Cao; Mansi M. Kasliwal; Amy Lien; Iair Arcavi; Joshua S. Bloom; Nathaniel Butler; Antonino Cucchiara; José A De Diego; Alexei V. Filippenko; Avishay Gal-Yam; Neil Gehrels; Leonid Georgiev; J. Jesús González; John F. Graham; Jochen Greiner; D. Alexander Kann; Christopher R. Klein; Fabian Knust; S. R. Kulkarni; Alexander Kutyrev; Russ Laher; William H. Lee; Peter E. Nugent; J. Xavier Prochaska; Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz; Michael G. Richer; Adam Rubin; Yuji Urata; Karla Varela; Alan M. Watson; Przemek R. Wozniak

doi:10.1088/2041-8205/803/2/L24

IPTF14yb: The first discovery of a gamma-ray burst afterglow independent of a high-energy trigger

S. Bradley Cenko, Alex L. Urban, Daniel A. Perley, Assaf Horesh, Alessandra Corsi, Derek B. Fox, Yi Cao, Mansi M. Kasliwal, Amy Lien, Iair Arcavi, Joshua S. Bloom, Nathaniel Butler, Antonino Cucchiara, José A De Diego, Alexei V. Filippenko, Avishay Gal-Yam, Neil Gehrels, Leonid Georgiev, J. Jesús González, John F. GrahamJochen Greiner, D. Alexander Kann, Christopher R. Klein, Fabian Knust, S. R. Kulkarni, Alexander Kutyrev, Russ Laher, William H. Lee, Peter E. Nugent, J. Xavier Prochaska, Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz, Michael G. Richer, Adam Rubin, Yuji Urata, Karla Varela, Alan M. Watson, Przemek R. Wozniak

Earth and Space Exploration, School of (SESE)

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

48 Scopus citations

Abstract

We report here the discovery by the Intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (iPTF) of iPTF14yb, a luminous(Mr ≈ -27.8 mag), cosmological (redshift 1.9733), rapidly fading optical transient. We demonstrate, based onprobabilistic arguments and a comparison with the broader population, that iPTF14yb is the optical afterglow ofthe long-duration gamma-ray burst GRB 140226A. This marks the first unambiguous discovery of a GRBafterglow prior to (and thus entirely independent of) an associated high-energy trigger. We estimate the rate ofiPTF14yb-like sources (i.e., cosmologically distant relativistic explosions) based on iPTF observations, inferringan all-sky value of R_rel = 610 yr^?1 (68% confidence interval of 1102000 yr^?1). Our derived rate is consistent(within the large uncertainty) with the all-sky rate of on-axis GRBs derived by the Swift satellite. Finally, webriefly discuss the implications of the nondetection to date of bona fide orphan afterglows (i.e., those lackingdetectable high-energy emission) on GRB beaming and the degree of baryon loading in these relativistic jets.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	L24
Journal	Astrophysical Journal Letters
Volume	803
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/803/2/L24
State	Published - Apr 20 2015

Keywords

gamma-ray burst: general
stars: flare
supernovae: general

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Astronomy and Astrophysics
Space and Planetary Science

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10.1088/2041-8205/803/2/L24

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Cenko, S. B., Urban, A. L., Perley, D. A., Horesh, A., Corsi, A., Fox, D. B., Cao, Y., Kasliwal, M. M., Lien, A., Arcavi, I., Bloom, J. S., Butler, N., Cucchiara, A., Diego, J. A. D., Filippenko, A. V., Gal-Yam, A., Gehrels, N., Georgiev, L., González, J. J., ... Wozniak, P. R. (2015). IPTF14yb: The first discovery of a gamma-ray burst afterglow independent of a high-energy trigger. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 803(2), Article L24. https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/803/2/L24

Cenko, SB, Urban, AL, Perley, DA, Horesh, A, Corsi, A, Fox, DB, Cao, Y, Kasliwal, MM, Lien, A, Arcavi, I, Bloom, JS, Butler, N, Cucchiara, A, Diego, JAD, Filippenko, AV, Gal-Yam, A, Gehrels, N, Georgiev, L, González, JJ, Graham, JF, Greiner, J, Kann, DA, Klein, CR, Knust, F, Kulkarni, SR, Kutyrev, A, Laher, R, Lee, WH, Nugent, PE, Xavier Prochaska, J, Ramirez-Ruiz, E, Richer, MG, Rubin, A, Urata, Y, Varela, K, Watson, AM & Wozniak, PR 2015, 'IPTF14yb: The first discovery of a gamma-ray burst afterglow independent of a high-energy trigger', Astrophysical Journal Letters, vol. 803, no. 2, L24. https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/803/2/L24

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title = "IPTF14yb: The first discovery of a gamma-ray burst afterglow independent of a high-energy trigger",

abstract = "We report here the discovery by the Intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (iPTF) of iPTF14yb, a luminous(Mr ≈ -27.8 mag), cosmological (redshift 1.9733), rapidly fading optical transient. We demonstrate, based onprobabilistic arguments and a comparison with the broader population, that iPTF14yb is the optical afterglow ofthe long-duration gamma-ray burst GRB 140226A. This marks the first unambiguous discovery of a GRBafterglow prior to (and thus entirely independent of) an associated high-energy trigger. We estimate the rate ofiPTF14yb-like sources (i.e., cosmologically distant relativistic explosions) based on iPTF observations, inferringan all-sky value of Rrel = 610 yr?1 (68% confidence interval of 1102000 yr?1). Our derived rate is consistent(within the large uncertainty) with the all-sky rate of on-axis GRBs derived by the Swift satellite. Finally, webriefly discuss the implications of the nondetection to date of bona fide orphan afterglows (i.e., those lackingdetectable high-energy emission) on GRB beaming and the degree of baryon loading in these relativistic jets.",

keywords = "gamma-ray burst: general, stars: flare, supernovae: general",

author = "Cenko, {S. Bradley} and Urban, {Alex L.} and Perley, {Daniel A.} and Assaf Horesh and Alessandra Corsi and Fox, {Derek B.} and Yi Cao and Kasliwal, {Mansi M.} and Amy Lien and Iair Arcavi and Bloom, {Joshua S.} and Nathaniel Butler and Antonino Cucchiara and Diego, {Jos{\'e} A De} and Filippenko, {Alexei V.} and Avishay Gal-Yam and Neil Gehrels and Leonid Georgiev and Gonz{\'a}lez, {J. Jes{\'u}s} and Graham, {John F.} and Jochen Greiner and Kann, {D. Alexander} and Klein, {Christopher R.} and Fabian Knust and Kulkarni, {S. R.} and Alexander Kutyrev and Russ Laher and Lee, {William H.} and Nugent, {Peter E.} and {Xavier Prochaska}, J. and Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz and Richer, {Michael G.} and Adam Rubin and Yuji Urata and Karla Varela and Watson, {Alan M.} and Wozniak, {Przemek R.}",

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doi = "10.1088/2041-8205/803/2/L24",

language = "English (US)",

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journal = "Astrophysical Journal Letters",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - IPTF14yb

T2 - The first discovery of a gamma-ray burst afterglow independent of a high-energy trigger

AU - Cenko, S. Bradley

AU - Urban, Alex L.

AU - Perley, Daniel A.

AU - Horesh, Assaf

AU - Corsi, Alessandra

AU - Fox, Derek B.

AU - Cao, Yi

AU - Kasliwal, Mansi M.

AU - Lien, Amy

AU - Arcavi, Iair

AU - Bloom, Joshua S.

AU - Butler, Nathaniel

AU - Cucchiara, Antonino

AU - Diego, José A De

AU - Filippenko, Alexei V.

AU - Gal-Yam, Avishay

AU - Gehrels, Neil

AU - Georgiev, Leonid

AU - González, J. Jesús

AU - Graham, John F.

AU - Greiner, Jochen

AU - Kann, D. Alexander

AU - Klein, Christopher R.

AU - Knust, Fabian

AU - Kulkarni, S. R.

AU - Kutyrev, Alexander

AU - Laher, Russ

AU - Lee, William H.

AU - Nugent, Peter E.

AU - Xavier Prochaska, J.

AU - Ramirez-Ruiz, Enrico

AU - Richer, Michael G.

AU - Rubin, Adam

AU - Urata, Yuji

AU - Varela, Karla

AU - Watson, Alan M.

AU - Wozniak, Przemek R.

PY - 2015/4/20

Y1 - 2015/4/20

N2 - We report here the discovery by the Intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (iPTF) of iPTF14yb, a luminous(Mr ≈ -27.8 mag), cosmological (redshift 1.9733), rapidly fading optical transient. We demonstrate, based onprobabilistic arguments and a comparison with the broader population, that iPTF14yb is the optical afterglow ofthe long-duration gamma-ray burst GRB 140226A. This marks the first unambiguous discovery of a GRBafterglow prior to (and thus entirely independent of) an associated high-energy trigger. We estimate the rate ofiPTF14yb-like sources (i.e., cosmologically distant relativistic explosions) based on iPTF observations, inferringan all-sky value of Rrel = 610 yr?1 (68% confidence interval of 1102000 yr?1). Our derived rate is consistent(within the large uncertainty) with the all-sky rate of on-axis GRBs derived by the Swift satellite. Finally, webriefly discuss the implications of the nondetection to date of bona fide orphan afterglows (i.e., those lackingdetectable high-energy emission) on GRB beaming and the degree of baryon loading in these relativistic jets.

AB - We report here the discovery by the Intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (iPTF) of iPTF14yb, a luminous(Mr ≈ -27.8 mag), cosmological (redshift 1.9733), rapidly fading optical transient. We demonstrate, based onprobabilistic arguments and a comparison with the broader population, that iPTF14yb is the optical afterglow ofthe long-duration gamma-ray burst GRB 140226A. This marks the first unambiguous discovery of a GRBafterglow prior to (and thus entirely independent of) an associated high-energy trigger. We estimate the rate ofiPTF14yb-like sources (i.e., cosmologically distant relativistic explosions) based on iPTF observations, inferringan all-sky value of Rrel = 610 yr?1 (68% confidence interval of 1102000 yr?1). Our derived rate is consistent(within the large uncertainty) with the all-sky rate of on-axis GRBs derived by the Swift satellite. Finally, webriefly discuss the implications of the nondetection to date of bona fide orphan afterglows (i.e., those lackingdetectable high-energy emission) on GRB beaming and the degree of baryon loading in these relativistic jets.

KW - gamma-ray burst: general

KW - stars: flare

KW - supernovae: general

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SN - 2041-8205

VL - 803

JO - Astrophysical Journal Letters

JF - Astrophysical Journal Letters

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ER -

IPTF14yb: The first discovery of a gamma-ray burst afterglow independent of a high-energy trigger

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