We present the discovery of the X-ray and optical afterglows of the short-duration GRB 150101B, pinpointing the event to an early-type host galaxy at z = 0.1343 +/- 0.0030. This makes GRB 150101B the most nearby short gamma-ray burst (GRB) with an early-type host galaxy discovered to date. Fitting the spectral energy distribution of the host galaxy results in an inferred stellar mass of approximate to 7 x 10(10) M-circle dot, stellar population age of approximate to 2-2.5 Gyr, and star formation rate of less than or similar to 0.4M(circle dot) yr(-1). The host of GRB 150101B is one of the largest and most luminous short GRB host galaxies, with a B-band luminosity of approximate to 4.3L(*) and half-light radius of approximate to 8 kpc. GRB 150101B is located at a projected distance of 7.35 +/- 0.07. kpc from its host center and lies on a faint region of its host rest-frame optical light. Its location, combined with the lack of associated supernova, is consistent with an NS-NS/NS-BH merger progenitor. From modeling the evolution of the broadband afterglow, we calculate isotropic-equivalent gamma-ray and kinetic energies of approximate to 1.3 x 10(49) erg and approximate to(6-14) x 10(51) erg, respectively, a circumburst density of approximate to(0.8-4) x 10(-5) cm(-3), and a jet opening angle of greater than or similar to 9 degrees. Using observations extending to approximate to 30 days, we place upper limits of less than or similar to(2-4) x 10(41) erg s(-1) on associated kilonova emission. We compare searches following previous short GRBs to existing kilonova models and demonstrate the difficulty of performing effective kilonova searches from cosmological short GRBs using current ground-based facilities. We show that at the Advanced LIGO/VIRGO horizon distance of 200 Mpc, searches reaching depths of approximate to 23-24 AB. mag are necessary to probe a meaningful range of kilonova models.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/622673 |
| Date | 14 December 2016 |
| Creators | Fong, W., Margutti, R., Chornock, R., Berger, E., Shappee, B. J., Levan, A. J., Tanvir, N. R., Smith, N., Milne, P. A., Laskar, T., Fox, D. B., Lunnan, R., Blanchard, P. K., Hjorth, J., Wiersema, K., van der Horst, A. J., Zaritsky, D. |
| Contributors | Univ Arizona, Steward Observ |
| Publisher | IOP PUBLISHING LTD |
| Source Sets | University of Arizona |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Article |
| Rights | © 2016. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. |
| Relation | http://stacks.iop.org/0004-637X/833/i=2/a=151?key=crossref.8a3bfb4f4c1a31f7d0ba2ec310d9b157 |
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