0000000000115817
AUTHOR
Chris L. Fryer
GRB 101225A - a new class of GRBs?
AbstractThe Christmas burst, GRB 101225A, was one of the most controversial bursts in the last few years. Its exceptionally long duration but bright X-ray emission showing a thermal component followed by a strange afterglow with a thermal SED lead to two different interpretations. We present here our model ascribing this strange event to a new type of GRB progenitor consisting of a neutron star and an evolved main-sequence star in a very faint galaxy at redshift 0.33 while Campana et al. (2011) proposed a Galactic origin. New observations at several wavelengths might resolve the question between the two models in the near future.
The transient gravitational-wave sky
Interferometric detectors will very soon give us an unprecedented view of the gravitational-wave sky, and in particular of the explosive and transient Universe. Now is the time to challenge our theoretical understanding of short-duration gravitational-wave signatures from cataclysmic events, their connection to more traditional electromagnetic and particle astrophysics, and the data analysis techniques that will make the observations a reality. This paper summarizes the state of the art, future science opportunities, and current challenges in understanding gravitational-wave transients.
The unusual γ-ray burst GRB 101225A from a helium star/neutron star merger at redshift 0.33
Long Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) are the most dramatic examples of massive stellar deaths, usually associated with supernovae. They release ultra-relativistic jets producing non-thermal emission through synchrotron radiation as they interact with the surrounding medium. Here we report observations of the peculiar GRB 101225A (the "Christmas burst"). Its gamma-ray emission was exceptionally long and followed by a bright X-ray transient with a hot thermal component and an unusual optical couuterpart. During the first 10 days, the optical emission evolved as an expanding, cooling blackbody after which an additional component, consistent with a faint supernova, emerged. We determine its distance to…
A deep study of the high–energy transient sky
This is an open access article. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds t…