CaltechAUTHORS
Published February 1, 2021 | Version Accepted Version + Published
Journal Article Open

Identification of a Local Sample of Gamma-Ray Bursts Consistent with a Magnetar Giant Flare Origin

Creators

  • 1. ROR icon Louisiana State University
  • 2. ROR icon Ioffe Institute
  • 3. ROR icon University of California, Berkeley
  • 4. ROR icon Goddard Space Flight Center
  • 5. ROR icon Universities Space Research Association
  • 6. ROR icon University of Maryland, Baltimore County
  • 7. ROR icon George Washington University
  • 8. ROR icon University of Alabama in Huntsville
  • 9. ROR icon Infrared Processing and Analysis Center
  • 10. ROR icon University of Maryland, College Park
  • 11. ROR icon University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee
  • 12. ROR icon University of Wisconsin–Madison
  • 13. ROR icon ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery
  • 14. ROR icon Rice University
  • 15. ROR icon Astrophysique Relativiste, Théories, Expériences, Métrologie, Instrumentation, Signaux
  • 16. ROR icon Marshall Space Flight Center
  • 17. ROR icon California Institute of Technology
  • 18. ROR icon University of Geneva
  • 19. ROR icon University of Toronto

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

Files

2101.05144.pdf

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Additional details

Identifiers

Eprint ID
107793
Resolver ID
CaltechAUTHORS:20210128-145053093

Related works

Describes
https://arxiv.org/abs/2101.05144 (URL)

Funding

NSF
PHY-1806990
NASA
NNM11AA01A
Deutscher Reichsbund für Leibesübungen (DRL)
NSF
OISE-1545949

Dates

Created
2021-01-28
Created from EPrint's datestamp field
Updated
2021-11-16
Created from EPrint's last_modified field

Caltech Custom Metadata

Caltech groups
Astronomy Department, Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC)