Littlejohns, OM, Willingale, R, O'Brien, PT, Beardmore, AP, Covino, S, Perley, DA, Tanvir, NR, Rol, E, Yuan, F, Akerlof, C, D'Avanzo, P, Bersier, DF, Castro-Tirado, AJ, Christian, P, Cobb, BE, Evans, PA, Filippenko, AV, Flewelling, H, Fugazza, D, Hoversten, EA et al, Kamble, AP, Kobayashi, S, Li, W, Morgan, AN, Mundell, CG, Page, K, Palazzi, E, Quimby, RM, Schulze, S, Steele, IA and Postigo, ADU (2012) The origin of the early-time optical emission of Swift GRB 080310. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 421 (3). pp. 2692-2712. ISSN 0035-8711

Preview

Text 1201.1292v1.pdf - Accepted Version Download (2MB) | Preview

Abstract

We present broad-band multiwavelength observations of GRB 080310 at redshift z= 2.43. This burst was bright and long-lived, and unusual in having extensive optical and near-infrared (IR) follow-up during the prompt phase. Using these data we attempt to simultaneously model the gamma-ray, X-ray, optical and IR emission using a series of prompt pulses and an afterglow component. Initial attempts to extrapolate the high-energy model directly to lower energies for each pulse reveal that a spectral break is required between the optical regime and 0.3 keV to avoid overpredicting the optical flux. We demonstrate that afterglow emission alone is insufficient to describe all morphology seen in the optical and IR data. Allowing the prompt component to dominate the early-time optical and IR and permitting each pulse to have an independent low-energy spectral indices we produce an alternative scenario which better describes the optical light curve. This, however, does not describe the spectral shape of GRB 080310 at early times. The fit statistics for the prompt- and afterglow-dominated models are nearly identical making it difficult to favour either. However one enduring result is that both models require a low-energy spectral index consistent with self-absorption for at least some of the pulses identified in the high-energy emission model.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ©: 2012 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	0201 Astronomical And Space Sciences
Subjects:	Q Science > QB Astronomy Q Science > QC Physics
Divisions:	Astrophysics Research Institute
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Related URLs:	Author
Date Deposited:	19 Jan 2017 10:15
Last Modified:	20 Apr 2022 10:56
DOI or ID number:	10.1111/j.1365-2966.2012.20499.x
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/5297

View Item