GRB 070610: a curious galactic transient
Creators
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Kasliwal, M. M.1
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Cenko, S. B.1
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Kulkarni, S. R.1
- Cameron, P.1
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Nakar, E.1
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Ofek, E. O.1
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Rau, A.1
- Soderberg, A. M.1
- Campana, S.2
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Bloom, J. S.3
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Perley, D. A.3
- Pollack, L. K.4
- Barthelmy, S.5
- Cummings, J.5
- Gehrels, N.5
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Krimm, H. A.5, 6
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Markwardt, C. B.5, 7
- Sato, G.5
- Chandra, P.8
- Frail, D.9
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Fox, D. B.10
- Price, P. A.11
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Berger, E.12, 13
- Grebenev, S. A.14
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Krivonos, R. A.14, 15
- Sunyaev, R. A.13, 14
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1.
California Institute of Technology
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2.
National Institute for Astrophysics
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3.
University of California, Berkeley
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4.
University of California, Santa Cruz
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5.
Goddard Space Flight Center
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6.
Universities Space Research Association
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7.
University of Maryland, College Park
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8.
University of Virginia
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9.
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
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10.
Pennsylvania State University
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11.
University of Hawaii at Manoa
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12.
Carnegie Institution for Science
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13.
Princeton University
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14.
Space Research Institute
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15.
Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics
Abstract
GRB 070610 is a typical high-energy event with a duration of 5 s. Yet within the burst localization we detect a highly unusual X-ray and optical transient, Swift J195509.6+261406. We see high-amplitude X-ray and optical variability on very short timescales even at late times. Using near-infrared imaging assisted by a laser guide star and adaptive optics, we identified the counterpart of Swift J195509.6+261406. Late-time optical and near-infrared imaging constrain the spectral type of the counterpart to be fainter than a K-dwarf, assuming it is of Galactic origin. It is possible that GRB 070610 and Swift J195509.6+261406 are unrelated sources. However, the absence of a typical X-ray afterglow from GRB 070610 in conjunction with the spatial and temporal coincidence of the two motivate us to suggest that the sources are related. The closest (imperfect) analog to Swift J195509.6+261406 is V4641 Sgr, an unusual black hole binary. We suggest that Swift J195509.6+261406 along with V4641 Sgr define a subclass of stellar black hole binaries—the fast X-ray novae. We further suggest that fast X-ray novae are associated with bursts of gamma rays. If so, GRB 070610 defines a new class of celestial gamma-ray bursts and these bursts dominate the long-duration GRB demographics.
Additional Information
© 2008 The American Astronomical Society. Received 2007 August 1; accepted 2007 November 5. We thank M. van Kerkwijk for help with Keck observations and discussions. We thank J. Cohen, J. Simon, A. Kraus, M. Muno, E. S. Phinney, and R. Narayan for valuable discussions. We also acknowledge D. Law, T. Treu, and P. Marshall. As always, we are grateful to the selfless librarians and astronomers who maintain the Simbad database. M. M. K. thanks the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation for support with the George Ellory Hale Fellowship. S. B. C. and A. M. S. are supported by a NASA Graduate Student Research Fellowship. J. S. B. is a Sloan Research Fellow and is partially supported by a Hellman Faculty Award. P. C. S. is supported by a Jansky Fellowship. E. B. is supported by a Hubble fellowship. GRB research at Caltech is supported in part by grants from NSF (AST program) and NASA (Swift and HST missions).Attached Files
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Additional details
Identifiers
- Eprint ID
- 13832
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:KASapj08a
Funding
- Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
- George Ellory Hale Fellowship
- NASA Graduate Student Research Fellowship
- Hellman Faculty Award
- Jansky Fellowship
- NASA Hubble Fellowship
- NSF
Dates
- Created
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2009-04-02Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-08Created from EPrint's last_modified field