This artists conception shows the merger between a neutron star and another star (seen as a disk, lower left) which triggered a surge resulting in the short-duration gamma-ray burst, GRB 211106A (white jet, middle), and left behind what researchers now understand to be one of the most luminous afterglows on record (semi-spherical shock wave mid-right). From the study, the team validated that GRB 211106A is one of the most energetic short-duration GRBs ever observed.
The flash is one of the most energetic short-duration gamma-ray bursts ever observed.
For the very first time, scientists have captured millimeter-wavelength light from an intense explosion caused by the merger of a neutron star and another star utilizing the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international observatory run by the US National Science Foundations National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO).
The researchers likewise determined that this burst of light was one of the most effective short-duration gamma-ray bursts ever observed, producing one of the most luminescent afterglows ever taped. The findings were recently published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
The brightest and most energetic explosions in the universe, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), might produce more energy in a few seconds than our Sun will produce in its whole lifetime. GRB 211106A belongs to a GRB subclass called short-duration gamma-ray bursts. The devastating combining of binary star systems containing neutron stars results in these surges, which are believed to be the source of the heaviest metals in deep space, such as platinum and gold.
In the first-ever time-lapse motion picture of a short-duration gamma-ray burst in millimeter-wavelength light, we see GRB 21106A as captured with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). The millimeter light seen here pinpoints the area of the event to a distant host galaxy in images recorded using the Hubble Space Telescope. The evolution of the millimeter lights brightness supplies information on the energy and geometry of the jets produced in the surge. Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), T. Laskar (Utah), S. Dagnello (NRAO/AUI/NSF).
” These mergers happen because of gravitational wave radiation that eliminates energy from the orbit of the binary stars, triggering the stars to spiral in towards each other,” stated Tanmoy Laskar, who will quickly begin work as an Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Utah. “The resulting explosion is accompanied by jets moving at close to the speed of light. When among these jets is pointed at Earth, we observe a brief pulse of gamma-ray radiation or a short-duration GRB.”.
A short-duration GRB typically lasts just a couple of tenths of a 2nd. Even still, theyre challenging to identify; just half-a-dozen short-duration GRBs have been found at radio wavelengths, and till now none had been discovered in millimeter wavelengths.
” Short-duration GRB afterglows are really luminescent and energetic. But these surges take place in far-off galaxies which means the light from them can be rather faint for our telescopes on Earth. Prior to ALMA, millimeter telescopes were not sensitive sufficient to discover these afterglows.”.
At roughly 20 billion light-years from Earth, GRB 211106A is no exception. The light from this short-duration gamma-ray burst was so faint that while early X-ray observations with NASAs Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory saw the surge, the host galaxy was undetected at that wavelength, and scientists werent able to identify precisely where the explosion was coming from.
” Afterglow light is necessary for determining which galaxy a burst originates from and for learning more about the burst itself. Initially, when only the X-ray equivalent had been found, astronomers thought that this burst may be coming from a close-by galaxy,” stated Laskar, including that a considerable amount of dust in the location likewise obscured the item from detection in optical observations with the Hubble Space Telescope.
Each wavelength added a new dimension to scientists understanding of the GRB, and millimeter, in particular, was vital to uncovering the fact about the burst. ALMAs unparalleled level of sensitivity enabled us to pinpoint the location of the GRB in that field with more accuracy, and it turned out to be in another faint galaxy, which is further away.
Wen-fai Fong, an Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Northwestern University added, “This short gamma-ray burst was the very first time we tried to observe such an event with ALMA. Afterglows for short bursts are very tough to come by, so it was incredible to capture this event shining so brilliant. After numerous years of observing these bursts, this surprising discovery opens a brand-new area of research study, as it encourages us to observe a lot more of these with ALMA, and other telescope varieties, in the future.”.
Joe Pesce, National Science Foundation Program Officer for NRAO/ALMA said, “These observations are fantastic on lots of levels. They supply more info to help us understand the enigmatic gamma-ray bursts (and neutron-star astrophysics in general), and they show how crucial and complementary multi-wavelength observations with area- and ground-based telescopes are in understanding astrophysical phenomena.”.
And theres lots of work still to be done throughout numerous wavelengths, both with new GRBs and with GRB 211106A, which might discover additional surprises about these bursts. “The research study of short-duration GRBs requires the fast coordination of telescopes all over the world and in area, operating at all wavelengths,” said Edo Berger, Professor of Astronomy at Harvard University.
” In the case of GRB 211106A, we used some of the most powerful telescopes offered– ALMA, the National Science Foundations Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA), NASAs Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the Hubble Space Telescope. With the now-operational James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), and future 20-40 meter optical and radio telescopes such as the next generation VLA (ngVLA) we will have the ability to produce a total picture of these cataclysmic occasions and study them at unmatched distances.”.
Laskar added, “With JWST, we can now take a spectrum of the host galaxy and easily understand the distance, and in the future, we could likewise utilize JWST to record infrared afterglows and study their chemical structure. With ngVLA, we will be able to study the geometric structure of the afterglows and the star-forming fuel found in their host environments in extraordinary detail. I am delighted about these upcoming discoveries in our field.”.
Referral: “The First Short GRB Millimeter Afterglow: The Wide-angled Jet of the Extremely Energetic SGRB 211106A” by Tanmoy Laskar, Alicia Rouco Escorial, Genevieve Schroeder, Wen-fai Fong, Edo Berger, Péter Veres, Shivani Bhandari, Jillian Rastinejad, Charles D. Kilpatrick, Aaron Tohuvavohu, Raffaella Margutti, Kate D. Alexander, James DeLaunay, Jamie A. Kennea, Anya Nugent, K. Paterson and Peter K. G. Williams, 12 August 2022, The Astrophysical Journal Letters.DOI: 10.3847/ 2041-8213/ ac8421.
From the study, the group validated that GRB 211106A is one of the most energetic short-duration GRBs ever observed. The brightest and most energetic surges in the universe, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), might produce more energy in a few seconds than our Sun will produce in its whole lifetime. In the first-ever time-lapse motion picture of a short-duration gamma-ray burst in millimeter-wavelength light, we see GRB 21106A as recorded with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). When one of these jets is pointed at Earth, we observe a short pulse of gamma-ray radiation or a short-duration GRB.”.
Each wavelength included a brand-new measurement to researchers understanding of the GRB, and millimeter, in specific, was vital to discovering the truth about the burst.
