Late-time HST and JWST Observations of GRB 221009A: Evidence for a Break in the Light Curve at 50 days
GRB 221009A is one of the brightest transients ever observed, with the highest peak gamma-ray flux for a gamma-ray burst (GRB). A Type Ic-BL supernova (SN), SN 2022xiw, was definitively detected in late-time JWST spectroscopy ( t = 195 days, observer frame). However, photometric studies have found S...
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IOP Publishing
2025-01-01
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adc306 |
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| author | Huei Sears Ryan Chornock Peter K. Blanchard Raffaella Margutti V. Ashley Villar Justin Pierel Patrick J. Vallely Kate D. Alexander Edo Berger Tarraneh Eftekhari Wynn V. Jacobson-Galán Tanmoy Laskar Natalie LeBaron Brian D. Metzger Dan Milisavljevic |
| author_facet | Huei Sears Ryan Chornock Peter K. Blanchard Raffaella Margutti V. Ashley Villar Justin Pierel Patrick J. Vallely Kate D. Alexander Edo Berger Tarraneh Eftekhari Wynn V. Jacobson-Galán Tanmoy Laskar Natalie LeBaron Brian D. Metzger Dan Milisavljevic |
| author_sort | Huei Sears |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | GRB 221009A is one of the brightest transients ever observed, with the highest peak gamma-ray flux for a gamma-ray burst (GRB). A Type Ic-BL supernova (SN), SN 2022xiw, was definitively detected in late-time JWST spectroscopy ( t = 195 days, observer frame). However, photometric studies have found SN 2022xiw to be less luminous (10%−70%) than the canonical GRB-SN, SN 1998bw. We present late-time Hubble Space Telescope (HST)/WFC3 and JWST/NIRCam imaging of the afterglow and host galaxy of GRB 221009A at t ∼185, 277, and 345 days post-trigger. Our joint archival ground, HST, and JWST light-curve fits show strong support for a break in the light-curve decay slope at t = 50 ± 10 days (observer frame) and a SN at <1.5× the optical/near-IR flux of SN 1998bw. This break is consistent with an interpretation as a jet break when requiring slow-cooling electrons in a wind medium with an electron energy spectral index p > 2 and ν _m < ν _c . Our light curves and joint HST/JWST spectral energy distribution (SED) also show evidence for the late-time emergence of a bluer component in addition to the fading afterglow and SN. We find consistency with the interpretations that this source is either a young, massive, low-metallicity star cluster or a scattered-light echo of the afterglow with a SED shape of f _ν ∝ ν ^2.0±1.0 . |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-cd73aeb123734217a09676d29b6ea491 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1538-4357 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Astrophysical Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-cd73aeb123734217a09676d29b6ea4912025-08-20T02:28:19ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572025-01-01984219610.3847/1538-4357/adc306Late-time HST and JWST Observations of GRB 221009A: Evidence for a Break in the Light Curve at 50 daysHuei Sears0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8023-4912Ryan Chornock1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7706-5668Peter K. Blanchard2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0526-2248Raffaella Margutti3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4768-7586V. Ashley Villar4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5814-4061Justin Pierel5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2361-7201Patrick J. Vallely6https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5661-7155Kate D. Alexander7https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8297-2473Edo Berger8https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9392-9681Tarraneh Eftekhari9https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0307-9984Wynn V. Jacobson-Galán10https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1103-3409Tanmoy Laskar11https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1792-2338Natalie LeBaron12https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2249-0595Brian D. Metzger13https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4670-7509Dan Milisavljevic14https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0763-3885Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey , 136 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854-8019, USADepartment of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley , CA 94720-3411, USACenter for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138-1516, USA; The NSF AI Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Interactions , USADepartment of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley , CA 94720-3411, USA; Department of Physics, University of California , 366 Physics North MC 7300, Berkeley, CA 94720, USACenter for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138-1516, USA; The NSF AI Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Interactions , USASpace Telescope Science Institute , Baltimore, MD 21218, USACore Pricing Systems , CarMax, Inc., Richmond, VA 23238, USASteward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721-0065, USACenter for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138-1516, USA; The NSF AI Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Interactions , USACenter for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astronomy (CIERA), Northwestern University , 1800 Sherman Avenue, Evanston, IL 60201, USADepartment of Astronomy and Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology , Pasadena, CA 91125, USADepartment of Physics & Astronomy, University of Utah , Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA; Department of Astrophysics/IMAPP, Radboud University , P.O. Box 9010, 6500 GL, Nijmegen, The NetherlandsDepartment of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley , CA 94720-3411, USADepartment of Physics and Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory, Columbia University , New York, NY 10027, USA; Center for Computational Astrophysics , Flatiron Institute, 162 5th Ave, New York, NY 10010, USADepartment of Physics and Astronomy, Purdue University , 525 Northwestern Ave, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USAGRB 221009A is one of the brightest transients ever observed, with the highest peak gamma-ray flux for a gamma-ray burst (GRB). A Type Ic-BL supernova (SN), SN 2022xiw, was definitively detected in late-time JWST spectroscopy ( t = 195 days, observer frame). However, photometric studies have found SN 2022xiw to be less luminous (10%−70%) than the canonical GRB-SN, SN 1998bw. We present late-time Hubble Space Telescope (HST)/WFC3 and JWST/NIRCam imaging of the afterglow and host galaxy of GRB 221009A at t ∼185, 277, and 345 days post-trigger. Our joint archival ground, HST, and JWST light-curve fits show strong support for a break in the light-curve decay slope at t = 50 ± 10 days (observer frame) and a SN at <1.5× the optical/near-IR flux of SN 1998bw. This break is consistent with an interpretation as a jet break when requiring slow-cooling electrons in a wind medium with an electron energy spectral index p > 2 and ν _m < ν _c . Our light curves and joint HST/JWST spectral energy distribution (SED) also show evidence for the late-time emergence of a bluer component in addition to the fading afterglow and SN. We find consistency with the interpretations that this source is either a young, massive, low-metallicity star cluster or a scattered-light echo of the afterglow with a SED shape of f _ν ∝ ν ^2.0±1.0 .https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adc306Gamma-ray burstsCore-collapse supernovaeSupernovaeHigh energy astrophysicsHST photometryHubble Space Telescope |
| spellingShingle | Huei Sears Ryan Chornock Peter K. Blanchard Raffaella Margutti V. Ashley Villar Justin Pierel Patrick J. Vallely Kate D. Alexander Edo Berger Tarraneh Eftekhari Wynn V. Jacobson-Galán Tanmoy Laskar Natalie LeBaron Brian D. Metzger Dan Milisavljevic Late-time HST and JWST Observations of GRB 221009A: Evidence for a Break in the Light Curve at 50 days The Astrophysical Journal Gamma-ray bursts Core-collapse supernovae Supernovae High energy astrophysics HST photometry Hubble Space Telescope |
| title | Late-time HST and JWST Observations of GRB 221009A: Evidence for a Break in the Light Curve at 50 days |
| title_full | Late-time HST and JWST Observations of GRB 221009A: Evidence for a Break in the Light Curve at 50 days |
| title_fullStr | Late-time HST and JWST Observations of GRB 221009A: Evidence for a Break in the Light Curve at 50 days |
| title_full_unstemmed | Late-time HST and JWST Observations of GRB 221009A: Evidence for a Break in the Light Curve at 50 days |
| title_short | Late-time HST and JWST Observations of GRB 221009A: Evidence for a Break in the Light Curve at 50 days |
| title_sort | late time hst and jwst observations of grb 221009a evidence for a break in the light curve at 50 days |
| topic | Gamma-ray bursts Core-collapse supernovae Supernovae High energy astrophysics HST photometry Hubble Space Telescope |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adc306 |
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