Relativistic ejecta from X-ray flash XRF 060218 and the rate of cosmic explosions

A. M. Soderberg; S. R. Kulkarni; E. Nakar; E. Berger; P. B. Cameron; D. B. Fox; D. Frail; A. Gal-Yam; R. Sari; S. B. Cenko; M. Kasliwal; R. A. Chevalier; T. Piran; P. A. Price; B. P. Schmidt; G. Pooley; D. S. Moon; B. E. Penprase; E. Ofek; A. Rau; N. Gehrels; J. A. Nousek; D. N. Burrows; S. E. Persson; P. J. McCarthy

doi:10.1038/nature05087

Relativistic ejecta from X-ray flash XRF 060218 and the rate of cosmic explosions

A. M. Soderberg^*, S. R. Kulkarni, E. Nakar, E. Berger, P. B. Cameron, D. B. Fox, D. Frail, A. Gal-Yam, R. Sari, S. B. Cenko, M. Kasliwal, R. A. Chevalier, T. Piran, P. A. Price, B. P. Schmidt, G. Pooley, D. S. Moon, B. E. Penprase, E. Ofek, A. RauN. Gehrels, J. A. Nousek, D. N. Burrows, S. E. Persson, P. J. McCarthy

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

446 Scopus citations

Abstract

Over the past decade, long-duration γ-ray bursts (GRBs)-including the subclass of X-ray flashes (XRFs)-have been revealed to be a rare variety of type Ibc supernova. Although all these events result from the death of massive stars, the electromagnetic luminosities of GRBs and XRFs exceed those of ordinary type Ibc supernovae by many orders of magnitude. The essential physical process that causes a dying star to produce a GRB or XRF, and not just a supernova, is still unknown. Here we report radio and X-ray observations of XRF 060218 (associated with supernova SN 2006aj), the second-nearest GRB identified until now. We show that this event is a hundred times less energetic but ten times more common than cosmological GRBs. Moreover, it is distinguished from ordinary type Ibc supernovae by the presence of 10⁴⁸ erg coupled to mildly relativistic ejecta, along with a central engine (an accretion-fed, rapidly rotating compact source) that produces X-rays for weeks after the explosion. This suggests that the production of relativistic ejecta is the key physical distinction between GRBs or XRFs and ordinary supernovae, while the nature of the central engine (black hole or magnetar) may distinguish typical bursts from low-luminosity, spherical events like XRF 060218.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1014-1017
Number of pages	4
Journal	Nature
Volume	442
Issue number	7106
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/nature05087
State	Published - 31 Aug 2006
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Acknowledgements GRB research at Caltech is supported in part by funds from NSF and NASA. We are, as always, indebted to S. Barthelmy and the GCN. The VLA is operated by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc. A.M.S. and S.B.C. are supported by NASA Graduate Research Fellowships. E.B. and A.G.-Y. acknowledge support by NASA through a Hubble Fellowship grant. D.N.B. and J.A.N. acknowledge support by NASA.

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Soderberg, A. M., Kulkarni, S. R., Nakar, E., Berger, E., Cameron, P. B., Fox, D. B., Frail, D., Gal-Yam, A., Sari, R., Cenko, S. B., Kasliwal, M., Chevalier, R. A., Piran, T., Price, P. A., Schmidt, B. P., Pooley, G., Moon, D. S., Penprase, B. E., Ofek, E., ... McCarthy, P. J. (2006). Relativistic ejecta from X-ray flash XRF 060218 and the rate of cosmic explosions. Nature, 442(7106), 1014-1017. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature05087

@article{67e65e391679497eacae292a33bb68e8,

title = "Relativistic ejecta from X-ray flash XRF 060218 and the rate of cosmic explosions",

abstract = "Over the past decade, long-duration γ-ray bursts (GRBs)-including the subclass of X-ray flashes (XRFs)-have been revealed to be a rare variety of type Ibc supernova. Although all these events result from the death of massive stars, the electromagnetic luminosities of GRBs and XRFs exceed those of ordinary type Ibc supernovae by many orders of magnitude. The essential physical process that causes a dying star to produce a GRB or XRF, and not just a supernova, is still unknown. Here we report radio and X-ray observations of XRF 060218 (associated with supernova SN 2006aj), the second-nearest GRB identified until now. We show that this event is a hundred times less energetic but ten times more common than cosmological GRBs. Moreover, it is distinguished from ordinary type Ibc supernovae by the presence of 1048 erg coupled to mildly relativistic ejecta, along with a central engine (an accretion-fed, rapidly rotating compact source) that produces X-rays for weeks after the explosion. This suggests that the production of relativistic ejecta is the key physical distinction between GRBs or XRFs and ordinary supernovae, while the nature of the central engine (black hole or magnetar) may distinguish typical bursts from low-luminosity, spherical events like XRF 060218.",

author = "Soderberg, {A. M.} and Kulkarni, {S. R.} and E. Nakar and E. Berger and Cameron, {P. B.} and Fox, {D. B.} and D. Frail and A. Gal-Yam and R. Sari and Cenko, {S. B.} and M. Kasliwal and Chevalier, {R. A.} and T. Piran and Price, {P. A.} and Schmidt, {B. P.} and G. Pooley and Moon, {D. S.} and Penprase, {B. E.} and E. Ofek and A. Rau and N. Gehrels and Nousek, {J. A.} and Burrows, {D. N.} and Persson, {S. E.} and McCarthy, {P. J.}",

note = "Funding Information: Acknowledgements GRB research at Caltech is supported in part by funds from NSF and NASA. We are, as always, indebted to S. Barthelmy and the GCN. The VLA is operated by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc. A.M.S. and S.B.C. are supported by NASA Graduate Research Fellowships. E.B. and A.G.-Y. acknowledge support by NASA through a Hubble Fellowship grant. D.N.B. and J.A.N. acknowledge support by NASA.",

year = "2006",

month = aug,

day = "31",

doi = "10.1038/nature05087",

language = "אנגלית",

volume = "442",

pages = "1014--1017",

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Soderberg, AM, Kulkarni, SR, Nakar, E, Berger, E, Cameron, PB, Fox, DB, Frail, D, Gal-Yam, A, Sari, R, Cenko, SB, Kasliwal, M, Chevalier, RA, Piran, T, Price, PA, Schmidt, BP, Pooley, G, Moon, DS, Penprase, BE, Ofek, E, Rau, A, Gehrels, N, Nousek, JA, Burrows, DN, Persson, SE & McCarthy, PJ 2006, 'Relativistic ejecta from X-ray flash XRF 060218 and the rate of cosmic explosions', Nature, vol. 442, no. 7106, pp. 1014-1017. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature05087

TY - JOUR

T1 - Relativistic ejecta from X-ray flash XRF 060218 and the rate of cosmic explosions

AU - Soderberg, A. M.

AU - Kulkarni, S. R.

AU - Nakar, E.

AU - Berger, E.

AU - Cameron, P. B.

AU - Fox, D. B.

AU - Frail, D.

AU - Gal-Yam, A.

AU - Sari, R.

AU - Cenko, S. B.

AU - Kasliwal, M.

AU - Chevalier, R. A.

AU - Piran, T.

AU - Price, P. A.

AU - Schmidt, B. P.

AU - Pooley, G.

AU - Moon, D. S.

AU - Penprase, B. E.

AU - Ofek, E.

AU - Rau, A.

AU - Gehrels, N.

AU - Nousek, J. A.

AU - Burrows, D. N.

AU - Persson, S. E.

AU - McCarthy, P. J.

N1 - Funding Information: Acknowledgements GRB research at Caltech is supported in part by funds from NSF and NASA. We are, as always, indebted to S. Barthelmy and the GCN. The VLA is operated by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc. A.M.S. and S.B.C. are supported by NASA Graduate Research Fellowships. E.B. and A.G.-Y. acknowledge support by NASA through a Hubble Fellowship grant. D.N.B. and J.A.N. acknowledge support by NASA.

PY - 2006/8/31

Y1 - 2006/8/31

N2 - Over the past decade, long-duration γ-ray bursts (GRBs)-including the subclass of X-ray flashes (XRFs)-have been revealed to be a rare variety of type Ibc supernova. Although all these events result from the death of massive stars, the electromagnetic luminosities of GRBs and XRFs exceed those of ordinary type Ibc supernovae by many orders of magnitude. The essential physical process that causes a dying star to produce a GRB or XRF, and not just a supernova, is still unknown. Here we report radio and X-ray observations of XRF 060218 (associated with supernova SN 2006aj), the second-nearest GRB identified until now. We show that this event is a hundred times less energetic but ten times more common than cosmological GRBs. Moreover, it is distinguished from ordinary type Ibc supernovae by the presence of 1048 erg coupled to mildly relativistic ejecta, along with a central engine (an accretion-fed, rapidly rotating compact source) that produces X-rays for weeks after the explosion. This suggests that the production of relativistic ejecta is the key physical distinction between GRBs or XRFs and ordinary supernovae, while the nature of the central engine (black hole or magnetar) may distinguish typical bursts from low-luminosity, spherical events like XRF 060218.

AB - Over the past decade, long-duration γ-ray bursts (GRBs)-including the subclass of X-ray flashes (XRFs)-have been revealed to be a rare variety of type Ibc supernova. Although all these events result from the death of massive stars, the electromagnetic luminosities of GRBs and XRFs exceed those of ordinary type Ibc supernovae by many orders of magnitude. The essential physical process that causes a dying star to produce a GRB or XRF, and not just a supernova, is still unknown. Here we report radio and X-ray observations of XRF 060218 (associated with supernova SN 2006aj), the second-nearest GRB identified until now. We show that this event is a hundred times less energetic but ten times more common than cosmological GRBs. Moreover, it is distinguished from ordinary type Ibc supernovae by the presence of 1048 erg coupled to mildly relativistic ejecta, along with a central engine (an accretion-fed, rapidly rotating compact source) that produces X-rays for weeks after the explosion. This suggests that the production of relativistic ejecta is the key physical distinction between GRBs or XRFs and ordinary supernovae, while the nature of the central engine (black hole or magnetar) may distinguish typical bursts from low-luminosity, spherical events like XRF 060218.

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Relativistic ejecta from X-ray flash XRF 060218 and the rate of cosmic explosions

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