Spectroscopic evidence for SN 2010ma associated with GRB 101219B

M. Sparre*, J. Sollerman, J. P.U. Fynbo, D. Malesani, P. Goldoni, A. De Ugarte Postigo, S. Covino, V. D'Elia, H. Flores, F. Hammer, J. Hjorth, P. Jakobsson, L. Kaper, G. Leloudas, A. J. Levan, B. Milvang-Jensen, S. Schulze, G. Tagliaferri, N. R. Tanvir, D. J. WatsonK. Wiersema, R. A.M.J. Wijers

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

57 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We report on the spectroscopic detection of supernova SN 2010ma associated with the long gamma-ray burst GRB 101219B. We observed the optical counterpart of the GRB on three nights with the X-shooter spectrograph at the Very Large Telescope. From weak absorption lines, we measure a redshift of z = 0.55. The first-epoch UV-near-infrared afterglow spectrum, taken 11.6 hr after the burst, is well fit by a power law consistent with the slope of the X-ray spectrum. The second- and third-epoch spectra (obtained 16.4 and 36.7days after the burst), however, display clear bumps closely resembling those of the broad-lined type-Ic SN 1998bw if placed at z = 0.55. Apart from demonstrating that spectroscopic SN signatures can be observed for GRBs at these large distances, our discovery makes a step forward in establishing a general connection between GRBs and SNe. In fact, unlike most previous unambiguous GRB-associated SNe, GRB 101219B has a large gamma-ray energy (E iso = 4.2 × 1051 erg), a bright afterglow, and obeys the "Amati" relation, thus being fully consistent with the cosmological population of GRBs.

Original languageEnglish
Article numberL24
JournalAstrophysical Journal Letters
Volume735
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jul 2011

Other keywords

  • gamma-ray burst: general
  • gamma-ray burst: individual (GRB 101219B)
  • supernovae: individual (SN 2010ma)

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