The rapid decay of the optical emission from GRB 980326 and its possible implications

Open Access
Authors
  • E. Pian
  • E. Palazzi
  • J. van Paradijs
  • C. Kouveliotou
  • J.J.M. in 't Zand
  • J. Heise
  • C. Robinson
  • N. Tanvir
  • C. Lidman
  • C. Tinney
  • M. Keane
  • M. Briggs
  • K. Hurley
  • J.-F. Gonzales
  • P. Hall
  • M.G. Smith
  • R. Covarrubias
  • P.G. Jonker
  • J. Casares
  • N. Masetti
  • F. Frontera
  • M. Feroci
  • L. Piro
  • E. Costa
  • R. Smith
  • B. Jones
  • D. Windridge
  • J. Bland-Hawthorn
  • S. Veilleux
  • M. Garcia
  • W.R. Brown
  • K.Z. Stanek
  • A.J. Castro-Tirado
  • J. Gorosabel
  • J. Greiner
  • K. Jäger
  • A. Böhm
  • K.J. Fricke
Publication date 1998
Journal Astrophysical Journal
Volume | Issue number 502
Pages (from-to) L123-L127
Number of pages 5
Organisations
  • Faculty of Science (FNWI) - Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy (API)
Abstract We report the discovery of the optical counterpart to GRB 980326. Its rapid optical decay can be characterized by a power law with exponent - 2.10+/-0.13 and a constant underlying source at R_{{c}}=25.5+/-0.5 . Its optical colors 2.1 days after the burst imply a spectral slope of - 0.66+/-0.70 . The gamma -ray spectrum as observed with BATSE shows that it is among the 4% softest bursts ever recorded. We argue that the rapid optical decay may be a reason for the nondetection of some low-energy afterglows of GRBs
Document type Article
Note ©1998 American Astronomical Society
Language English
Published at https://doi.org/10.1086/311509
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985292.web.pdf (Final published version)
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