We present a systematic survey of the temporal and spectral properties of all GRB X-ray afterglows observed by Swift-XRT between January 2005 and July 2007. We have constructed a catalog of all light curves and spectra and investigate the physical origin of each afterglow segment in the framework of the forward shock models by comparing the data with the closure relations. We search for possible jet-like breaks in the lightcurves and try to explain some of the "missing" X-ray jet breaks in the lightcurves.
We discuss the current interpretations of the {\it Swift} GRB X-ray afterglows, mainly focusing on the sharp decline at the prompt tail emission, and the shallow decay afterward, which is then followed by the conventional pre-\emph{Swift} decay behavior, and the possible X-ray flares during the latter two stages. We emphasize the role of the central engine in interpreting the GRB afterglows.
The "canonical behaviour" of the early X-ray afterglows of long-duration Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) --observed by the X-Ray Telescope of the SWIFT satellite-- is precisely the one predicted by the Cannonball model of GRBs.
We calculate the GeV spectra of GRB afterglows produced by inverse Compton scattering of the sub-MeV emission of these objects. We improve on earlier treatments by using refined afterglow parameters and new model developments motivated by recent Swift observations. We present time-dependent GeV spectra for standard, constant parameter models, as well as for models with energy injection and with time-varying parameters, for a range of burst parameters. We evaluate the limiting redshift to which such afterglows can be detected by the GLAST LAT, as well as AGILE.
This is a very short conference proceeding based on a poster shown at the ESO workshop "Science with the VLT in the ELT Era". For more information, see "The Afterglows of Swift-era Gamma-Ray Bursts. I. Comparing pre-Swift and Swift era Long/Soft (Type II) GRB Optical Afterglows" (arXiv:0712.2186) as well as "The Afterglows of Swift-era Gamma-Ray Bursts. II. Short/Hard (Type I) vs. Long/Soft (Type II) Optical Afterglows" (arXiv:0804.1959)
Many Swift GRBs show an early phase of shallow decay in their X-ray afterglows, lasting from $t \sim 10^{2.5} $s to $\sim 10^4 $s after the GRB, where the flux decays as $\sim t^{-0.2}-t^{-0.8}$. This is perhaps the most mysterious of the new features discovered by Swift in the early X-ray afterglow, since it is still not clear what causes it. I discuss different possible explanations for this surprising new discovery, as well as their potential implications for the gamma-ray efficiency, the afterglow kinetic energy, and perhaps even for the physics of collisionless relativistic shocks.
The discovery of X-ray afterglows accompanying two short bursts from SGR 1900+14 is presented. The afterglow luminosities at the end of each observation are lower by 30-50% than their initial luminosities, and decay with power law indices p ~ 0.2-0.4. Their initial bolometric luminosities are L ~ 10^34-10^35 erg s^-1. We discuss analogies and differences between the X-ray afterglows of SGR short bursts and short gamma-ray bursts.
We have gathered optical photometry data from the literature on a large sample of Swift-era gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglows including GRBs up to September 2009, for a total of 76 GRBs, and present an additional three pre-Swift GRBs not included in an earlier sample. Furthermore, we publish 840 additional new photometry data points on a total of 42 GRB afterglows, including large data sets for GRBs 050319, 050408, 050802, 050820A, 050922C, 060418, 080413A and 080810. We analyzed the light curves of all GRBs in the sample and derived spectral energy distributions for the sample with the best da…
We present the results of a systematic analysis of the world sample of optical/near-infrared afterglow light curves observed in the pre-Swift era by the end of 2004. After selecting the best observed 16 afterglows with well-sampled light curves that can be described by a Beuermann equation, we explore the parameter space of the light curve parameters and physical quantities related to them. In addition, we search for correlations between these parameters and the corresponding gamma-ray data, and we use our data set to look for a fine structure in the light curves.
We show that Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) of known redshift and rest frame optical extinction detected by the Swift satellite fully confirm earlier results concerning the distribution of the optical afterglow luminosity at 12 hours after trigger (rest frame time). This distribution is bimodal and relatively narrow, especially for the high luminosity branch. This is intriguing, given that Swift GRBs have, on average, a redshift larger than pre-Swift ones, and is unexpected in the common scenario explaining the GRB afterglow. We investigate if the observed distribution can be the result of selection …
In the set of 236 GRB afterglows observed by Swift between January 2005 and March 2007, we identify 30 X-ray light-curves whose power-law fall-off exhibit a steepening ("break") at 0.1-10 day after trigger, to a decay steeper than t^{-1.5}. For most of these afterglows, the X-ray spectral slope and the decay indices before and after the break can be accommodated by the standard jet model although a different origin of the breaks cannot be ruled out. In addition, there are 27 other afterglows whose X-ray light-curves may also exhibit a late break to a steep decay, but the evidence is not that c…
The Swift XRT has been observing GRB afterglows since December 23, 2004. Three-quarters of these observations begin within 300 s of the burst onset, providing an unprecendented look at the behavior of X-ray emission from GRB afterglows in the first few hours after the burst. While most of the early afterglows have smoothly declining lightcurves, a substantial fraction has large X-ray flares on short time-scales. We suggest that these flares provide support for models with extended central engine activity producing late-time internal shocks.
We present multi-color optical observations of long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) made over a three year period with the robotic Palomar 60 inch telescope (P60). Our sample consists of all 29 events discovered by Swift for which P60 began observations less than one hour after the burst trigger. We were able to recover 80% of the optical afterglows from this prompt sample, and we attribute this high efficiency to our red coverage. Like Melandri et al. (2008), we find that a significant fraction (~ 50%) of Swift events show a suppression of the optical flux with regards to the X-ray emission …
We present the results of a systematic analysis of gamma-ray burst afterglow spectral energy distributions (SEDs) in the optical/near-infrared bands. Our input list includes the entire world sample of afterglows observed in the pre-Swift era by the end of 2004 that have sufficient publicly available data. We apply various dust extinction models to fit the observed SEDs (Milky Way, Large Magellanic Cloud and Small Magellanic Cloud) and derive the corresponding intrinsic extinction in the GRB host galaxies and the intrinsic spectral slopes of the afterglows. We then use these results to explore …
We present optical, near-IR, and radio follow up of sixteen Swift bursts, including our discovery of nine afterglows and a redshift determination for three. These observations, supplemented by data from the literature, provide an afterglow recovery rate of 60% in the optical/near-IR, much higher than in previous missions (BeppoSAX, HETE-2, INTEGRAL, and IPN). The optical/near-IR afterglows of Swift events are on average 1.7 mag fainter at t=12 hr than those of previous missions. The X-ray afterglows are similarly fainter compared to those of pre-Swift bursts. In the radio the limiting factor i…
We present a refined catalog for the positions of 179 Gamma-ray burst (GRB) X-ray afterglows observed by the X-ray Telescope (XRT) on Swift prior to November 1, 2006. The positions are determined by detecting X-ray field sources in the deep X-ray images and comparing the centroids to those of optical sources in the Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) red2 catalog or the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) DR-5 catalog. Half of the 90% confidence error region radii are <2.2 arcseconds. The error regions areas are typically ~4 times smaller than the best XRT-team error regions, although the positions require…
We present optical echelle spectra of four gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglows (GRB 050730, GRB 050820, GRB 051111, and GRB 060418) discovered during the first 1.5 years of operation of the Swift satellite and localized by either the Swift telescope or follow-up ground-based imaging. We analyze the spectra to derive accurate column density measurements for the transitions arising in the interstellar medium (ISM) of the GRB host galaxies. These measurements can be used to constrain the physical properties of the ISM including the metallicity, dust-to-gas ratio, ionization state, and chemical abund…
We examine the Swift/X-ray Telescope (XRT) light curves from the first ~150 gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglows. Although we expected to find jet breaks at typical times of 1-2 days after the GRB, we find that these appear to be extremely rare. Typical light curves have a break in the slope at about 10^4s, followed by a single power-law decay whose slope is much too shallow to be consistent with expectations for jet breaks. X-ray light curves typically extend out to ~10 days without any further breaks, until they become too faint for the XRT to detect. In some extreme cases, light curves extend o…
We present a systematic temporal and spectral study of all Swift-XRT observations of GRB afterglows discovered between 2005 January and 2007 December. After constructing and fitting all light curves and spectra to power-law models, we classify the components of each afterglow in terms of the canonical X-ray afterglow and test them against the closure relations of the forward shock models for a variety of parameter combinations. The closure relations are used to identify potential jet breaks with characteristics including the uniform jet model with and without lateral spreading and energy injec…
We present a catalogue of refined positions of 68 gamma ray burst (GRB) afterglows observed by the Swift X-ray Telescope (XRT) from the launch up to 2005 Oct 16. This is a result of the refinement of the XRT boresight calibration. We tested this correction by means of a systematic study of a large sample of X-ray sources observed by XRT with well established optical counterparts. We found that we can reduce the systematic error radius of the measurements by a factor of two, from 6.5" to 3.2" (90% of confidence). We corrected all the positions of the afterglows observed by XRT in the first 11 m…
Most X-ray afterglows of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) observed by the Swift satellite have a shallow decay phase t^{-1/2} in the first few hours. This is not predicted by the standard afterglow model and needs an explanation. We discuss that the shallow decay requires an unreasonably high gamma-ray efficiency, >75-90%, within current models, which is difficult to produce by internal shocks. Such a crisis may be avoided if a weak relativistic explosion occurs ~10^3-10^6 s prior to the main burst or if the microphysical parameter of the electron energy increases during the shallow decay, ε_e ~ t^{1/2…
We present the discovery of XRF 050215B and its afterglow. The burst was detected by the Swift BAT during the check-out phase and observations with the X-ray telescope began approximately 30 minutes after the burst. These observations found a faint, slowly fading X-ray afterglow near the centre of the error box as reported by the BAT. Infrared data, obtained at UKIRT after 10 hours also revealed a very faint K-band afterglow. The afterglow appear unusual since it is very faint, especially in the infrared with K>20 only 9 hours post burst. The X-ray and infrared lightcurves exhibit a slow, mono…
We present results of Swift optical, UV and X-ray observations of the afterglow of GRB 050801. The source is visible over the full optical, UV and X-ray energy range of the Swift UVOT and XRT instruments.Both optical and X-ray lightcurves exhibit a broad plateau (Δt/t ~ 1) during the first few hundred seconds after the gamma-ray event. We investigate the multiwavelength spectral and timing properties of the afterglow, and we suggest that the behaviour at early times is compatible with an energy injection by a newly born magnetar with a period of a few tenths of a millisecond, which keeps the f…
We present optical and near-infrared searches for afterglow emission from the first four Swift bursts with accurate positions from the X-ray Telescope (XRT). Using telescopes at Las Campanas, Keck, and Palomar observatories we rapidly identified and followed up afterglows for three of the four bursts. The burst positions were also observed with the Very Large Array, but no radio afterglow emission was detected. The optical/NIR afterglows are fainter than about 75% of all afterglows detected to date, with GRB 050126 being the faintest, and were identified thanks to accurate and rapid positions …
Correlation studies of prompt and afterglow emissions from gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) between different spectral bands has been difficult to do in the past because few bursts had comprehensive and intercomparable afterglow measurements. In this paper we present a large and uniform data set for correlation analysis based on bursts detected by the Swift mission. For the first time, short and long bursts can be analyzed and compared. It is found for both classes that the optical, X-ray and gamma-ray emissions are linearly correlated, but with a large spread about the correlation line; stronger burst…
We report the results of Swift observations of the Gamma Ray Burst GRB 050603. With a V magnitude V=18.2 about 10 hours after the burst the optical afterglow was the brightest so far detected by Swift and one of the brightest optical afterglows ever seen. The Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) light curves show three fast-rise-exponential-decay spikes with $T_{90}$=12s and a fluence of 7.6$\times 10^{-6}$ ergs cm$^{-2}$ in the 15-150 keV band. With an $E_{\rm γ, iso} = 1.26 \times 10^{54}$ ergs it was also one of the most energetic bursts of all times. The Swift spacecraft began observing of the afte…
According to current models, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are produced when the energy carried by a relativistic outflow is dissipated and converted into radiation. The efficiency of this process, $ε_γ$, is one of the critical factors in any GRB model. The X-ray afterglow light curves of Swift GRBs show an early stage of flat decay. This has been interpreted as reflecting energy injection. When combined with previous estimates, which have concluded that the kinetic energy of the late ($\gtrsim 10$ hr) afterglow is comparable to the energy emitted in gamma-rays, this interpretation implies very high…
This paper investigates GRB 050802, one of the best examples of a it Swift gamma-ray burst afterglow that shows a break in the X-ray lightcurve, while the optical counterpart decays as a single power-law. This burst has an optically bright afterglow of 16.5 magnitude, detected throughout the 170-650nm spectral range of the UVOT on-board Swift. Observations began with the XRT and UVOT telescopes 286s after the initial trigger and continued for 1.2 x 10^6s. The X-ray lightcurve consists of three power-law segments: a rise until 420s, followed by a slow decay with alpha_2 = 0.63 +/- 0.03 until 50…
We present the first results of a program to systematically study the optical-to-X-ray spectral energy distribution (SED) of Swift GRB afterglows with known redshift. The goal is to study the properties of the GRB explosion and of the intervening absorbing material. In this report we present the preliminary analysis on 23 afterglows. Thanks to Swift, we could build the SED at early times after the GRB (minutes to hours). We derived the Hydrogen column densities and the spectral slopes from the X-ray spectrum. We then constrained the visual extinction by requiring that the combined optical/X-ra…
Swift discovered GRB050128 with the Burst Alert Telescope and promptly pointed its narrow field instruments to monitor the afterglow. X-ray observations started 108 s after the trigger time. The early decay of the afterglow is relatively flat with a temporal decay modeled with a power law with index ~ -0.3. A steepening occurs at later times (~ 1500 s) with a power law index of ~ -1.3. During this transition, the observed X-ray spectrum does not change. We interpret this behaviour as either an early jet break or evidence for a transition from the fast cooling regime to the slow cooling regime …
GRB 070724B is the first Gamma Ray Burst localized by SuperAGILE, the hard X-ray monitor aboard the AGILE satellite. The coordinates of the event were published $\sim 19$ hours after the trigger. The Swift X-Ray Telescope pointed at the SuperAGILE location and detected the X-ray afterglow inside the SuperAGILE error circle. The AGILE gamma-ray Tracker and Minicalorimeter did not detect any significant gamma ray emission associated with GRB 070724B in the MeV and GeV range, neither prompt nor delayed. Searches of the optical afterglow were performed by the Swift UVOT and the Palomar automated 6…
We compiled a large sample of Swift-era photometric data on long (Type II) and short (Type I) GRB afterglows. We compare the luminosity and energetics of the different samples to each other and to the afterglows of the pre-Swift era. Here, we present the first results of these studies.
(Abridged) The Swift X-Ray Telescope (XRT) reveals some interesting features of early X-ray afterglows, including a distinct rapidly decaying component preceding the conventional afterglow component in many sources, a shallow decay component before the more ``normal'' decay component observed in a good fraction of GRBs (e.g. GRB 050128, GRB 050315, GRB 050319, and GRB 050401), and X-ray flares in nearly half of the afterglows (e.g. GRB 050406, GRB 050502B, GRB 050607, and GRB 050724). In this paper, we systematically analyze the possible physical processes that shape the properties of the earl…
We analyze Swift gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and X-ray afterglows for three GRBs with spectroscopic redshift determinations -- GRB 050401, XRF 050416a, and GRB 050525a. We find that the relation between spectral peak energy and isotropic energy of prompt emissions (the Amati relation) is consistent with that for the bursts observed in pre-Swift era. However, we find that the X-ray afterglow lightcurves, which extend up to 10-70 days, show no sign of the jet break that is expected in the standard framework of collimated outflows. We do so by showing that none of the X-ray afterglow lightcurves in o…
The power-law decay of the X-ray emission of GRB afterglows 050319, 050401, 050607, 050713A, 050802 and 050922C exhibits a steepening at about 1--4 hours after the burst which, surprisingly, is not accompanied by a break in the optical emission. If it is assumed that both the optical and X-ray afterglows arise from the same outflow then, in the framework of the standard forward shock model, the chromaticity of the X-ray light-curve breaks indicates that they do not arise solely from a mechanism related to the outflow dynamics (e.g. energy injection) or the angular distribution of the blast-wav…
We report on the temporal and spectral characteristics of the early X-ray emission from the Gamma Ray Bursts GRB050126 and GRB050219A as observed by Swift. The X-ray light-curves of these 2 bursts both show remarkably steep early decays (F(t)\propto t^{-3}), breaking to flatter slopes on timescales of a few hundred seconds. For GRB050126 the burst shows no evidence of spectral evolution in the 20-150 keV band, and the spectral index of the gamma-ray and X-ray afterglows are significantly different suggesting a separate origin. By contrast the BAT spectrum of GRB050219A displays significant spe…
We show that all X-ray decay curves of GRBs measured by Swift can be fitted using one or two components both of which have exactly the same functional form comprised of an early falling exponential phase followed by a power law decay. The 1st component contains the prompt gamma-ray emission and the initial X-ray decay. The 2nd component appears later, has a much longer duration and is present for ~80% of GRBs. It most likely arises from the external shock which eventually develops into the X-ray afterglow. In the remaining ~20% of GRBs the initial X-ray decay of the 1st component fades more sl…
The present catalog is the result of our attempts to collect all published photometric data on GRB afterglows observed in the pre-Swift era by the end of 2004 in order to gain statistical insight on the phenomenology of GRB afterglows. Part I contains all published data on GRB afterglows in filters we used in Zeh, Klose, & Kann (2005) to create reference light curves and derive light curve parameters (mostly R band, but a few bursts have better data in other colors) including the corresponding references. The catalog includes GCN data as well as data published in refereed journals. No data hav…
We present a detailed analysis of Swift multi-wavelength observations of GRB 070110 and its remarkable afterglow. The early X-ray light curve, interpreted as the tail of the prompt emission, displays a spectral evolution already seen in other gamma-ray bursts. The optical afterglow shows a shallow decay up to ~2 d after the burst, which is not consistent with standard afterglow models. The most intriguing feature is a very steep decay in the X-ray flux at ~20 ks after the burst, ending an apparent plateau. The abrupt drop of the X-ray light curve rules out an external shock as the origin of th…
We present observations of the X-ray afterglow of GRB 050408, a gamma-ray burst discovered by HETE-II. Swift began observing the field 42 min after the burst, performing follow-up over a period of 38 d (thus spanning three decades in time).The X-ray light curve showed a steepening with time, similar to many other afterglows. However, the steepening was unusually smooth, over the duration of the XRT observation, with no clear break time. The early decay was too flat to be described in terms of standard models. We therefore explore alternative explanations, such as the presence of a structured a…
Gamma-ray burst (GRB) progenitors are observationally linked to the death of massive stars. X-ray studies of the GRB afterglows can deepen our knowledge of the ionization status and metal abundances of the matter in the GRB environment. Moreover, the presence of local matter can be inferred through its fingerprints in the X-ray spectrum, i.e. the presence of absorption higher than the Galactic value. A few studies based on BeppoSAX and XMM-Newton found evidence of higher than Galactic values for the column density in a number of GRB afterglows. Here we report on a systematic analysis of 17 GRB…
Results are presented of early X-ray afterglow observations of GRB 060105 by Swift and Suzaku. The bright, long gamma-ray burst GRB 060105 triggered the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) at 06:49:28 on 5 January 2006. The Suzaku team commenced a pre-planned target of opportunity observation at 19 ks (5.3 hr) after the Swift trigger. Following the prompt emission and successive very steep decay, a shallow decay was observed from T_0+187 s to T_0+1287 s. After an observation gap during T_0 +(1.5-3) ks, an extremely early steep decay was observed in T_0+(4-30) ks. The lightcurve flattened again a…
The X-ray light-curves of 9 Swift XRT afterglows (050126, 050128, 050219A, 050315, 050318, 050319, 050401, 050408, 050505) display a complex behaviour: a steep t^{-3.0 \pm 0.3} decay until ~400 s, followed by a significantly slower t^{-0.65+/-0.20} fall-off, which at 0.2--2 d after the burst evolves into a t^{-1.7+/-0.5} decay. We consider three possible models for the geometry of relativistic blast-waves (spherical outflows, non-spreading jets, and spreading jets), two possible dynamical regimes for the forward shock (adiabatic and fully radiative), and we take into account a possible angular…
The successful launch and operation of NASA's Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Explorer open a new era for the multi-wavelength study of the very early afterglow phase of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). GRB early afterglow information is essential to explore the unknown physical composition of GRB jets, the link between the prompt gamma-ray emission and the afterglow emission, the GRB central engine activity, as well as the immediate GRB environment. Here I review some of the recent theoretical efforts to address these problems and describe how the latest Swift data give answers to these outstanding questions.
The Swift Ultra-Violet/Optical Telescope (UVOT) has performed extensive follow-up on 71 Swift Burst Alert Telescope triggered gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) in its first ten months of operations. In this paper, we discuss some of the UV and optical properties of UVOT detected afterglows such as XRF 050406, the bright GRB 050525A, the high redshift GRB 050730, the early flaring GRB 050801, and others. We also discuss some of the implications of why 75% of GRB afterglows observed by UVOT in less than one hour are "dark."
Swift discovered the high redshift GRB 050319 with the Burst Alert Telescope and began observing with its narrow field instruments only 225 s after the burst onset. The afterglow X-ray emission was monitored by the XRT up to 28 days after the burst. The light curve shows a decay with three different phases, each characterized by a distinct slope: an initial steep decay with a power law index of ~ 5.5, a second phase characterized by a flat decay slope of \~ 0.54, and a third phase with a decay slope of ~ 1.14. During the first phase the spectral energy distribution is softer than in the follow…
We report the results of the Swift and XMM observations of the Swift-discovered long Gamma-Ray Burst GRB 060729 ($T_{90}$=115s). The afterglow of this burst was exceptionally bright in X-rays as well as at UV/Optical wavelengths showing an unusually long slow decay phase ($α$=0.14\plm0.02) suggesting a larger energy injection phase at early times than in other bursts. The X-ray light curve displays a break at about 60 ks after the burst. The X-ray decay slope after the break is $α$=1.29\plm0.03. Up to 125 days after the burst we do not detect a jet break, suggesting that the jet opening angle …
The X-ray afterglows observed by Swift exhibit rich light-curves, with four phases of different decay rate. The temporal and spectral properties for a set of 47 bursts are used to identify the mechanisms which can explain these four phases. The early, fast-decaying phase can be attributed to the same mechanism which generated the burst emission (internal shocks in a relativistic outflow), while the following phases of slower decay can be identified with synchrotron emission from the forward shock sweeping the circumburst medium. Most likely, the phase of slowest decay is due to a continuous en…
We present science highlights and performance from the Swift X-ray Telescope (XRT), which was launched on November 20, 2004. The XRT covers the 0.2-10 keV band, and spends most of its time observing gamma-ray burst (GRB)afterglows, though it has also performed observations of many other objects. By mid-August 2007, the XRT had observed over 220 GRB afterglows, detecting about 96% of them. The XRT positions enable followup ground-based optical observations, with roughly 60% of the afterglows detected at optical or near IR wavelengths. Redshifts are measured for 33% of X-ray afterglows. Science …
The availability of multi-wavelength high-quality data of gamma-ray burst afterglows in the Swift era, contrary to the expectations, did not allow us to fully confirm yet one of the most fundamental features of the standard afterglow picture: the presence of an achromatic break in the decaying light curve. We briefly review the most interesting cases identified so far.
The Swift/XRT data of 179 GRBs (from 050124 to 070129) and the optical afterglow data of 57 pre- and post-Swift GRBs are analyzed, in order to systematically investigate the jet-like breaks in the X-ray and optical afterglow lightcurves. We find that not a single burst can be included in the ``Platinum'' sample, in which the data satisfy all the criteria of a jet break. By releasing one or more requirements to define a jet break, some candidates of various degrees could be identified. In the X-ray band, 42 out of the 103 well-sampled X-ray lightcurves have a decay slope of the post-break segme…
Using the 8.4m Large Binocular Telescope, we observed six GRB afterglows from 2.8 hours to 30.8 days after the burst triggers to systematically probe the late time behaviors of afterglows including jet breaks, flares, and supernova bumps. We detected five afterglows with Sloan r' magnitudes ranging from 23.0-26.3 mag. The depth of our observations allows us to extend the temporal baseline for measuring jet breaks by another decade in time scale. We detected two jet breaks and a third candidate, all of which are not detectable without deep, late time optical observations. In the other three cas…
We describe and discuss the spectral and temporal characteristics of the prompt emission and X-ray afterglow emission of X-ray flashes (XRFs) and X-ray-rich gamma-ray bursts (XRRs) detected and observed by Swift between December 2004 and September 2006. We compare these characteristics to a sample of conventional classical gamma-ray bursts (C-GRBs) observed during the same period. We confirm the correlation between Epeak_obs and fluence noted by others and find further evidence that XRFs, XRRs and C-GRBs form a continuum. We also confirm that our known redshift sample is consistent with the co…
We have conducted a thorough and blind search for emission lines in >70 Swift X-ray afterglows of total exposure ~10^7s. We find that most afterglows are consistent with pure power-laws plus extinction. Significant outliers to the population exist at the 5-10% level and have anomalously soft, possibly thermal spectra. Four bursts are singled out via possible detections of 2-5 lines: GRBs 060218, 060202, 050822, and 050714B. Alternatively, a blackbody model with kT~0.1-0.5 keV can describe the soft emission in each afterglow. The most significant soft component detections in the full data set o…
The unique capability of the Swift satellite to perform a prompt and autonomous slew to a newly detected Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) has yielded the discovery of interesting new properties of GRB X-ray afterglows, such as the steep early lightcurve decay and the frequent presence of flares detected up to a few hours after the GRB trigger. We present observations of GRB 050607, the fourth case of a GRB discovered by Swift with flares superimposed on the overall fading X-ray afterglow. The flares of GRB 050607 were not symmetric as in previously reported cases, showing a very steep rise and a shallowe…
We calculate the GeV afterglow emission expected from a few mechanisms related to GRBs and their afterglows. Given the brightness of the early X-ray afterglow emission measured by Swift/XRT, GLAST/LAT should detect the self-Compton emission from the forward-shock driven by the GRB ejecta into the circumburst medium. Novel features discovered by Swift in X-ray afterglows (plateaus and chromatic light-curve breaks) indicate the existence of a pair-enriched, relativistic outflow located behind the forward shock. Bulk and inverse-Compton upscattering of the prompt GRB emission by such outflows pro…
High energy emission (> tens MeV) of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) provides an important clue to understand the physical processes involved in GRBs, which may be correlated with the GRB early afterglow. A shallow decline phase has been well detected in about half {\it Swift} Gamma-ray Burst X-ray afterglows. The widely considered interpretation involves a significant energy injection and possibly time-evolving shock parameter(s). This work we calculate the synchrotron-self-Compton (SSC) radiation of such an external forward shock and show that it could explain the well-known long term high energy (i…
The X-ray light-curves of the GRB afterglows monitored by Swift display one to four phases of power-law decay. In chronological order they are: the burst tail, the "hump", the standard decay, and the post jet-break decay. The large-angle emission produced during the burst, but arriving at observer later, is consistent with the GRB tail decay for less than half of bursts. The forward-shock synchrotron emission from a very narrow jet (half-angle less than 1 deg) is consistent with the decay of 75 percent of GRB tails. The forward-shock inverse-Compton emission from a narrow jet that does not exp…
We report the results of Swift X-Ray Telescope (XRT) observations of GRB 050318. This event triggered the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) aboard Swift and was followed-up with XRT and UVOT for 11 consecutive orbits starting from 54 minutes after the trigger. A previously unknown fading X-ray source was detected and accurately monitored. The source was found to decrease in intensity with time and a clear temporal break occurring at ~18000 s after the trigger was observed. The X-ray light curve was found to be consistent with a broken power-law with decay indices -1.17 +/- 0.08 and -2.10 (+0.22) (-0…
Gamma-ray burst afterglow observations in the Swift era have a perceived lack of achromatic jet breaks compared to the BeppoSAX, or pre-Swift era. Specifically, relatively few breaks, consistent with jet breaks, are observed in the X-ray light curves of these bursts. If these breaks are truly missing, it has serious consequences for the interpretation of GRB jet collimation and energy requirements, and the use of GRBs as cosmological tools. Here we address the issue of X-ray breaks that are possibly `hidden' and hence the light curves are misinterpreted as being single power laws. We do so by …
We present the first Swift Ultra-Violet/Optical Telescope (UVOT) gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglow catalog. The catalog contains data from over 64,000 independent UVOT image observations of 229 GRBs first detected by Swift, the High Energy Transient Explorer 2 (HETE2), the INTErnational Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL), and the Interplanetary Network (IPN). The catalog covers GRBs occurring during the period from 2005 Jan 17 to 2007 Jun 16 and includes ~86% of the bursts detected by the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT). The catalog provides detailed burst positional, temporal, and p…
