Identification of a Local Sample of Gamma-Ray Bursts Consistent with a Magnetar Giant Flare Origin
- Creators
- Burns, E.
- Svinkin, D.
- Hurley, K.
- Wadiasingh, Z.
- Negro, M.
- Younes, G.
- Hamburg, R.
- Ridnaia, A.
- Cook, D.
- Cenko, S. B.
- Aloisi, R.
- Ashton, G.
- Baring, M.
- Briggs, M. S.
- Christensen, N.
- Frederiks, D.
- Goldstein, A.
- Hui, C. M.
- Kaplan, D. L.
- Kasliwal, M. M.
- Kocevski, D.
- Roberts, O. J.
- Savchenko, V.
- Tohuvavohu, A.
- Veres, P.
- Wilson-Hodge, C. A.
Abstract
Cosmological gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are known to arise from distinct progenitor channels: short GRBs mostly from neutron star mergers and long GRBs from a rare type of core-collapse supernova (CCSN) called collapsars. Highly magnetized neutron stars called magnetars also generate energetic, short-duration gamma-ray transients called magnetar giant flares (MGFs). Three have been observed from the Milky Way and its satellite galaxies, and they have long been suspected to constitute a third class of extragalactic GRBs. We report the unambiguous identification of a distinct population of four local (<5 Mpc) short GRBs, adding GRB 070222 to previously discussed events. While identified solely based on alignment with nearby star-forming galaxies, their rise time and isotropic energy release are independently inconsistent with the larger short GRB population at >99.9% confidence. These properties, the host galaxies, and nondetection in gravitational waves all point to an extragalactic MGF origin. Despite the small sample, the inferred volumetric rates for events above 4 × 10⁴⁴ erg of R_(MGF) = 3.8^(+4.0)_(−3.1) × 10⁵ Gpc⁻³ yr⁻¹ make MGFs the dominant gamma-ray transient detected from extragalactic sources. As previously suggested, these rates imply that some magnetars produce multiple MGFs, providing a source of repeating GRBs. The rates and host galaxies favor common CCSN as key progenitors of magnetars.
Additional Information
© 2021 The American Astronomical Society. Received 2020 December 1; revised 2021 January 5; accepted 2021 January 5; published 2021 January 28. N.C. is supported by NSF grant PHY-1806990. The Fermi-GBM Collaboration acknowledges the support of NASA in the United States under grant NNM11AA01A and DRL in Germany. The CLU galaxy list made use of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED), which is funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and operated by the California Institute of Technology, and was supported by the Global Relay of Observatories Watching Transients Happen (GROWTH) project funded by the National Science Foundation under PIRE grant No. 1545949.Attached Files
Published - Burns_2021_ApJL_907_L28.pdf
Accepted Version - 2101.05144.pdf
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 107793
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20210128-145053093
- PHY-1806990
- NSF
- NNM11AA01A
- NASA
- Deutscher Reichsbund für Leibesübungen (DRL)
- OISE-1545949
- NSF
- Created
-
2021-01-28Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-16Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Caltech groups
- Astronomy Department, Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC)