GAMMA RAYS: BURSTS

Pulse Width Evolution of Late-Time X-Ray Flares in Gamma-Ray Bursts

We study the duration and variability of late-time X-ray flares following gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) observed by the narrow-field X-ray telescope (XRT) aboard the Swift spacecraft. These flares are thought to be indicative of late-time activity by the …

Super Star Cluster NGC 1705-1: A Local Analog to the Birth Site of Long-Duration γ-Ray Bursts

Recent observations suggest that global properties of the host galaxies for long-duration γ-ray bursts (GRBs) are particularly well suited for creating the massive star progenitors of these GRBs. Motivated by the hypothesis that massive young star …

Submillijansky Transients in Archival Radio Observations

We report the results of a 944 epoch survey for transient sources with archival data from the Very Large Array spanning 22 years with a typical epoch separation of 7 days. Observations were obtained at 5 or 8.4 GHz for a single field of view and …

Multicolor Infrared Observations of SN 2006aj. I. The Supernova Associated with XRF 060218

We report simultaneous multicolor near-infrared (NIR) observations of the supernova associated with X-ray flash 060218 during the first 16 days after the high-energy event. We find that the light curve rises and peaks relatively fast compared to …

On the Absence of Wind Signatures in GRB Afterglow Spectra: Constraints on the Wolf-Rayet Winds of GRB Progenitors

We investigate available constraints on the circumstellar medium (CSM) around long-duration γ-ray burst (GRB) progenitors from afterglow spectra. We first establish a statistical sample of five GRB afterglow spectra that have been collected and …

Keck and European Southern Observatory Very Large Telescope View of the Symmetry of the Ejecta of the XRF/SN 2006aj

Nebular-phase spectra of SN 2006aj, discovered in coincidence with XRF 060218, were obtained with Keck in 2006 July and VLT in 2006 September. At the latter epoch spectropolarimetry was also attempted, yielding a polarization upper limit of …

The Interstellar Medium of Gamma-Ray Burst Host Galaxies. I. Echelle Spectra of Swift GRB Afterglows

We present optical echelle spectra of four gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglows (GRB 050730, GRB 050820, GRB 051111, and GRB 060418) discovered during the first 1.5 yr of operation of the Swift satellite and localized by either the Swift telescope or …

A Putative Early-Type Host Galaxy for GRB 060502B: Implications for the Progenitors of Short-Duration Hard-Spectrum Bursts

Starting with the first detection of an afterglow from a short-duration hard-spectrum γ-ray burst (SHB) by Swift last year, a growing body of evidence has suggested that SHBs are associated with an older and lower redshift galactic population than …

When Do Internal Shocks End and External Shocks Begin? Early-Time Broadband Modeling of GRB 051111

Even with the renaissance in gamma-ray burst (GRB) research fostered by the Swift satellite, few bursts have both contemporaneous observations at long wavelengths and exquisite observations at later times across the electromagnetic spectrum. We …

On the Incidence of Strong Mg II Absorbers along Gamma-Ray Burst Sight Lines

We report on a survey for strong (rest equivalent width W$_r$>=1 ̊A), intervening Mg II systems along the sight lines to long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). The GRB spectra that comprise the survey have a heterogeneous mix of resolution and …