Detection of GRB 060927 at z = 5.47: Implications for the Use of Gamma-Ray Bursts as Probes of the End of the Dark Ages

2007

We report on follow-up observations of the GRB 060927 using the ROTSE-IIIa telescope and a suite of larger aperture ground-based telescopes. An optical afterglow was detected 20 s after the burst, the earliest rest-frame detection of optical emission from any GRB. Spectroscopy performed with the VLT about 13 hours after the trigger shows a continuum break at lambda ~ 8070 A produced by neutral hydrogen absorption at z~5.6. We also detect an absorption line at 8158 A which we interpret as SiII at z=5.467. Hence, GRB 060927 is the second most distant GRB with a spectroscopically measured redshift. The shape of the red wing of the spectral break can be fitted by a damped Lyalpha profile with a…

Variable Ly-alpha sheds light on the environment surrounding GRB 090426

2011

Variable Ly alpha sheds light on the environment surrounding GRB 090426

2011

Long duration gamma-ray bursts are commonly associated with the deaths of massive stars. Spectroscopic studies using the afterglow as a light source provide a unique opportunity to unveil the medium surrounding it, probing the densest region of their galaxies. This material is usually in a low ionisation state and at large distances from the burst site, hence representing the normal interstellar medium in the galaxy. Here we present the case of GRB 090426 at z=2.609, whose optical spectrum indicates an almost fully ionised medium together with a low column density of neutral hydrogen. For the first time, we also observe variations in the Ly alpha absorption line. Photoionisation modeling sh…