J/ApJ/859/134 A VLA study of high-redshift GRBs. II. GRB140304A (Laskar+, 2018)

A VLA study of high-redshift GRBs. II. The complex radio afterglow of GRB 140304A: shell collisions and two reverse shocks. Laskar T., Berger E., Margutti R., Zauderer B.A., Williams P.K.G., Fong W.-F., Sari R., Alexander K.D., Kamble A. <Astrophys. J., 859, 134-134 (2018)> =2018ApJ...859..134L 2018ApJ...859..134L (SIMBAD/NED BibCode)
ADC_Keywords: GRB; Optical; Radio continuum Keywords: gamma-ray burst: general; gamma-ray burst: individual: GRB 140304A Abstract: We present detailed multifrequency, multiepoch radio observations of GRB 140304A at z=5.283 from 1 to 86GHz and from 0.45 to 89days. The radio and millimeter data exhibit unusual multiple spectral components, which cannot be simply explained by standard forward and reverse shock scenarios. Through detailed multiwavelength analysis spanning radio to X-rays, we constrain the forward shock parameters to Ek,iso∼4.9x1054erg, A*∼2.6x10-2, εe∼2.5x10-2, εB∼5.9x10-2, p∼2.6, and θjet∼1.1°, yielding a beaming-corrected γ-ray and kinetic energy, Eγ∼2.3x1049erg and EK∼9.5x1050erg, respectively. We model the excess radio emission as due to a combination of a late-time reverse shock (RS) launched by a shell collision, which also produces a rebrightening in the X-rays at ∼0.26days, and either a standard RS or diffractive interstellar scintillation (ISS). Under the standard RS interpretation, we invoke consistency arguments between the forward and reverse shocks to derive a deceleration time, tdec∼100s, the ejecta Lorentz factor, Γ(tdec)∼300, and a low RS magnetization, RB∼0.6. Our observations highlight both the power of radio observations in capturing RS emission and thus constraining the properties of GRB ejecta and central engines and the challenge presented by ISS in conclusively identifying RS emission in GRB radio afterglows. Description: GRB 140304A was discovered by the Niel Gehrels Swift Observatory Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) on 2014 March 4 at 13:22:31 UT. The Swift X-ray Telescope (XRT) began observing the field at 75.2s after the BAT trigger, leading to the detection of an X-ray afterglow. XRT continued observing the afterglow for 5.3 days in photon counting mode, with the last detection at 3.0 days. The Swift UV/Optical Telescope (UVOT) observed GRB 140304A beginning 138s after the burst (Marshall & Evans 2014GCN.15920....1M 2014GCN.15920....1M). We analyzed the UVOT data using HEASOFT (v. 6.16) and corresponding calibration files, and we list our derived upper limits in Table 2. We compiled all observations reported in GCN circulars and present the compilation in Table 3. We observed GRB 140304A with the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter Astronomy (CARMA) beginning on 2014 March 04.02 UT (0.54days after the burst) in continuum wideband mode with 8GHz bandwidth (16 windows, 487.5MHz each) at a mean frequency of 85.5GHz. Following an initial detection (Zauderer+ 2014GCN.15931....1Z 2014GCN.15931....1Z), we obtained two additional epochs. We observed the afterglow using the VLA starting 0.45 days after the burst. We detected and tracked the flux density of the afterglow from 1.2 to 33.5 GHz over seven epochs until 89 days after the burst, when it faded beyond detection at all frequencies. We summarize our millimeter-band and VLA observations in Table 4. Objects: ------------------------------------------------------------- RA (ICRS) DE Designation(s) ------------------------------------------------------------- 02 02 33.90 +33 28 27.9 GRB 140304A = Fermi bn140304557 ------------------------------------------------------------- File Summary: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FileName Lrecl Records Explanations -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ReadMe 80 . This file table2.dat 23 46 Swift UVOT observations of GRB 140304A table3.dat 136 21 Optical observations of GRB 140304A table4.dat 43 67 GRB 140304A: log of radio observations -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- See also: J/MNRAS/397/1177 : Swift-XRT observations of GRBs (Evans+, 2009) J/A+A/560/A70 : GRB 100621A unusual afterglow (Greiner+, 2013) J/A+A/562/A29 : GRB 100814A GROND and UVOT light curves (Nardini+, 2014) J/ApJ/781/37 : Multi-band photometry of GRB 130427A (Perley+, 2014) J/ApJ/814/1 : GRB 120326A, 100418A, 100901A multi-lambda obs. (Laskar+, 2015) J/ApJ/858/65 : VLA study of high-redshift GRBs. I. GRB140311A (Laskar+, 2018) http://www.swift.ac.uk/xrt_positions/00590206/ : Swift-XRT enhanced position for GRB 140304A Byte-by-byte Description of file: table2.dat -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bytes Format Units Label Explanations -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1- 8 E8.2 d DeltaT [0.003/6.7] Days since discovery on 2014 March 4 at 13:22:31 UT 10- 14 A5 --- Filt Swift/UVOT filter used 16- 23 E8.2 mJy Flux [9.5/409] The 3σ flux density upper limit -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Byte-by-byte Description of file: table3.dat -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bytes Format Units Label Explanations -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1- 9 E9.3 d DeltaT [0.0009/1.6] Time since discovery on 2014 March 4 at 13:22:31 UT 11- 15 A5 --- Tel Observatory identifier ("HJT", "ICATE" or "NOT") 17- 22 A6 --- Inst Instrument identifier ("RATIR", "MASTER" or "ALFOSC") 24- 25 A2 --- Filt Filter used (1) 27- 34 E8.2 Hz Freq [1.8e+14/4.6e+14] Midpoint frequency of Filt 36- 44 E9.2 mJy Flux [0.002/0.8] Flux density in Filter (2) 46- 54 E9.3 mJy e_Flux [0.0008/0.2] Uncertainty in Flux (2) 56 I1 --- Det? Detection?; 1=Yes 58-136 A79 --- Ref GCN reference -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Note (1): CR indicates clear filter calibrated to R-band. Note (2): An uncertainty of 0.2 AB mag is assumed where not provided. All upper limits are 3σ. The data have not been corrected for Galactic extinction. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Byte-by-byte Description of file: table4.dat -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bytes Format Units Label Explanations -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1- 9 E9.3 d DeltaT [0.4/89.1] Days since discovery on 2014 March 4 at 13:22:31 UT 11- 15 A5 --- Tel Facility identifier ("VLA" or "CARMA") 17- 21 F5.2 GHz Freq [1.4/85.5] Frequency of the radio observation 23- 31 E9.3 mJy Flux [0.02/1.2] Flux density at Freq 33- 41 E9.3 mJy e_Flux [0.01/0.4] Uncertainty in Flux 43 I1 --- Det? Detection?; 1=Yes -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- History: From electronic version of the journal
(End) Prepared by [AAS], Emmanuelle Perret [CDS] 04-Jun-2019
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