Blog

ABSTRACT:

GRB 230812B is a bright and relatively nearby ($z=0.36$) long gamma-ray burst that has generated significant interest in the community and therefore has been subsequently observed over the entire electromagnetic spectrum. We report over 80 observations in X-ray, ultraviolet, optical, infrared, and sub-millimeter bands from the GRANDMA (Global Rapid Advanced Network for Multi-messenger Addicts) network of observatories and from observational partners. Adding complementary data from the literature, we then derive essential physical parameters associated with the ejecta and external properties (i.e. the geometry and environment) and compare with other analyses of this event (e.g. Srinivasaragavan et al. 2023). We spectroscopically confirm the presence of an associated supernova, SN2023pel, and we derive a photospheric expansion velocity of v $\sim$ 17 x 10³ km $s^{-1}$. We analyze the photometric data first using empirical fits of the flux and then with full Bayesian Inference. We again strongly establish the presence of a supernova in the data, with an absolute peak r-band magnitude $M_r=-19.41\pm 0.10$. We find a flux-stretching factor or relative brightness $k_{\mathrm{S}\mathrm{N}}=1.04\pm 0.09$ and a time-stretching factor $s_{\mathrm{S}\mathrm{N}}=0.68\pm 0.05$, both compared to SN1998bw. Therefore, GRB 230812B appears to have a clear long GRB-supernova association, as expected in the standard collapsar model. However, as sometimes found in the afterglow modelling of such long GRBs, our best fit model favours a very low density environment (${\log }_{10}(n_{\mathrm{I}\mathrm{S}\mathrm{M}}\mathrm{/}{\mathrm{c}\mathrm{m}}^{-3})=-2.16_{-1.30}^{+1.21}$). We also find small values for the jet’s core angle ${\theta }_{\mathrm{c}\mathrm{o}\mathrm{r}\mathrm{e}}=1.70_{-0.71}^{+1.00}\mathrm{d}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{g}$ and viewing angle. GRB 230812B/SN2023pel is one of the best characterized afterglows with a distinctive supernova bump.

Read the full article