Browsing by Author "Bolmer, J."

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    The host galaxy of the short GRB 111117A at z=2.211 Impact on the short GRB redshift distribution and progenitor channels
    (2018) Selsing, J.; Kruehler, T.; Malesani, D.; D'Avanzo, P.; Schulze, S.; Vergani, S. D.; Palmerio, J.; Japelj, J.; Milvang-Jensen, B.; Watson, D.; Jakobsson, P.; Bolmer, J.; Cano, Z.; Covino, S.; D'Elia, V.; de Ugarte Postigo, A.; Fynbo, J. P. U.; Gomboc, A.; Heintz, K. E.; Kaper, L.; Levan, A. J.; Piranomonte, S.; Pugliese, G.; Sanchez-Ramirez, R.; Sparre, M.; Tanvir, N. R.; Thone, C. C.; Wiersema, K.
    It is notoriously difficult to localize short gamma-ray bursts (sGRBs) and their hosts to measure their redshifts. These measurements, however, are critical for constraining the nature of sGRB progenitors, their redshift distribution, and the r-process element enrichment history of the universe. Here we present spectroscopy of the host galaxy of GRB 111117A and measure its redshift to be z = 2.211. This makes GRB 111117A the most distant high-confidence short duration GRB detected to date. Our spectroscopic redshift supersedes a lower, previously estimated photometric redshift value for this burst. We use the spectroscopic redshift, as well as new imaging data to constrain the nature of the host galaxy and the physical parameters of the GRB. The rest-frame X-ray derived hydrogen column density, for example, is the highest compared to a complete sample of sGRBs and seems to follow the evolution with redshift as traced by the hosts of long GRBs. From the detection of Ly alpha emission in the spectrum, we are able to constrain the escape fraction of Ly alpha in the host. The host lies in the brighter end of the expected sGRB host brightness distribution at z = 2 : 211, and is actively forming stars. Using the observed sGRB host luminosity distribution, we find that between 43% and 71% of all Swift-detected sGRBs have hosts that are too faint at z similar to 2 to allow for a secure redshift determination. This implies that the measured sGRB redshift distribution could be incomplete at high redshift. The high z of GRB 111117A is evidence against a lognormal delay-time model for sGRBs through the predicted redshift distribution of sGRBs, which is very sensitive to high-z sGRBs. From the age of the universe at the time of GRB explosion, an initial neutron star (NS) separation of a(0) < 3.1 R-circle dot is required in the case where the progenitor system is a circular pair of inspiralling NSs. This constraint excludes some of the longest sGRB formation channels for this burst.
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    VLT/X-Shooter emission-line spectroscopy of 96 gamma-ray-burst-selected galaxies at 0.1 < z < 3.6
    (EDP SCIENCES S A, 2015) Kruehler, T.; Malesani, D.; Fynbo, J. P. U.; Hartoog, O. E.; Hjorth, J.; Jakobsson, P.; Perley, D. A.; Rossi, A.; Schady, P.; Schulze, S.; Tanvir, N. R.; Vergani, S. D.; Wiersema, K.; Afonso, P. M. J.; Bolmer, J.; Cano, Z.; Covino, S.; D'Elia, V.; de Ugarte Postigo, A.; Filgas, R.; Friis, M.; Graham, J. F.; Greiner, J.; Goldoni, P.; Gomboc, A.; Hammer, F.; Japelj, J.; Kann, D. A.; Kaper, L.; Klose, S.; Levan, A. J.; Leloudas, G.; Milvang Jensen, B.; Guelbenzu, A. Nicuesa; Palazzi, E.; Pian, E.; Piranomonte, S.; Sanchez Ramirez, R.; Savaglio, S.; Selsing, J.; Tagliaferri, G.; Vreeswijk, P. M.; Watson, D. J.; Xu, D.
    We present data and initial results from VLT/X-Shooter emission-line spectroscopy of 96 galaxies selected by long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) at 0.1 < z < 3.6, the largest sample of GRB host spectra available to date. Most of our GRBs were detected by Swift and 76% are at 0.5 < z < 2.5 with a median z(med) similar to 1.6. Based on Balmer and/or forbidden lines of oxygen, nitrogen, and neon, we measure systemic redshifts, star formation rates (SFR), visual attenuations (A(V)), oxygen abundances (12 + log(O/H)), and emission-line widths (sigma). We study GRB hosts up to z similar to 3.5 and find a strong change in their typical physical properties with redshift. The median SFR of our GRB hosts increases from SFRmed similar to 0.6 M circle dot yr(-1) at z similar to 0.6 up to SFRmed similar to 15 M circle dot yr(-1) at z similar to 2. A higher ratio of [O III]/[O II] at higher redshifts leads to an increasing distance of GRB-selected galaxies to the locus of local galaxies in the Baldwin-Phillips-Terlevich diagram. There is weak evidence for a redshift evolution in A(V) and similar to, with the highest values seen at z similar to 1.5 (A(V)) or z similar to 2 (sigma). Oxygen abundances of the galaxies are distributed between 12 + log(O/H) = 7.9 and 12 + log(O/H) = 9.0 with a median 12 + log(O/H)(med) similar to 8.5. The fraction of GRB-selected galaxies with super-solar metallicities is similar to 20% at z < 1 in the adopted metallicity scale. This is significantly less than the fraction of total star formation in similar galaxies, illustrating that GRBs are scarce in high metallicity environments. At z similar to 3, sensitivity limits us to probing only the most luminous GRB hosts for which we derive metallicities of Z less than or similar to 0.5 Z circle dot. Together with a high incidence of Z similar to 0.5 Z circle dot galaxies at z similar to 1.5, this indicates that a metallicity dependence at low redshift will not be dominant at z similar to 3. Significant correlations exist between the hosts' physical properties. Oxygen abundance, for example, relates to A(V) (12 + log(O/H) proportional to 0.17 A(V)), line width (12 + log(O/H) proportional to sigma(0.6)), and SFR (12 + log(O/H) proportional to SFR0.2). In the last two cases, the normalization of the relations shift to lower metallicities at z > 2 by similar to 0.4 dex. These properties of GRB hosts and their evolution with redshift can be understood in a cosmological context of star-forming galaxies and a picture in which the hosts' properties at low redshift are influenced by the tendency of GRBs to avoid the most metal-rich environments.
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    X-shooter and ALMA spectroscopy of GRB 161023A.
    (2018) Ugarte Postigo, A. de; Kim, Sam; Thöne, Christina C.; Bolmer, J.; Schulze, Steve.; Martín, S.; Kann, D. A.; D’Elia, V.; Selsing, J.; Martin-Carrillo, A.; Perley, Daniel A.