GRB 160410A: The first chemical study of the interstellar medium of a short GRB

J F Agüí fernández, C C Thöne, D A Kann, A De ugarte postigo, J Selsing, P Schady, R M Yates, J Greiner, S R Oates, D B Malesani, D Xu, A Klotz, S Campana, A Rossi, D A Perley, M Blažek, P D’avanzo, A Giunta, D Hartmann, K E HeintzP Jakobsson, C C Kirkpatrick iv, C Kouveliotou, A Melandri, G Pugliese, R Salvaterra, R L C Starling, N R Tanvir, S D Vergani, K Wiersema

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Abstract

Short gamma-ray bursts (SGRBs) are produced by the coalescence of compact binary systems which are remnants of massive stars. GRB 160410A is classified as a short-duration GRB with extended emission and is currently the farthest SGRB with a redshift determined from an afterglow spectrum and also one of the brightest SGRBs to date. The fast reaction to the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory alert allowed us to obtain a spectrum of the afterglow using the X-shooter spectrograph at the Very Large Telescope (VLT). The spectrum shows several absorption features at a redshift of z = 1.7177, in addition, we detect two intervening systems at z = 1.581 and z = 1.444. The spectrum shows Ly α in absorption with a column density of log (N(H I)/cm2) = 21.2 ± 0.2 which, together with Fe II, C II, Si II, Al II, and O I, allow us to perform the first study of chemical abundances in a SGRB host galaxy. We determine a metallicity of [X/H] = −2.3 ± 0.2 for Fe II and −2.5 ± 0.2 for Si II and no dust depletion. We also find no evidence for extinction in the afterglow spectral energy distribution modelling. The environment has a low degree of ionization and the C IV and Si IV lines are completely absent. We do not detect an underlying host galaxy down to deep limits. Additionally, we compare GRB 160410A to GRB 201221D, another high-z short GRB that shows absorption lines at z = 1.045 and an underlying massive host galaxy.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)613-636
Number of pages24
JournalMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume520
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 16 Jan 2023

Funding

JFAF acknowledges support from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades through the grant PRE2018-086507. DAK and JFAF acknowledge support from Spanish National Research Project RTI2018-098104-J-I00 (GRBPhot). AdUP acknowledges funding from a Ramón y Cajal fellowship (RyC-2012-09975). MB acknowledges funding associated to a personal tecnico de apoyo fellowship (PTA2016-13192-I). DBM acknowledges research grant 19054 from VILLUM FONDEN. Part of the funding for Gamma-Ray burst Optical and Near-infrared Detector (GROND) (both hardware as well as personnel) was generously granted from the Leibniz Prize to Prof. G. Hasinger (DFG grant HA 1850/28-1). AR acknowledges support from the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF) project Premiale Supporto Arizona & Italia. JFAF would like to thanks Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society for waving the page charges.

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