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An origin for short gamma-ray bursts unassociated with current star formation

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Author

  • S D Barthelmy
  • G Chincarini
  • D N Burrows
  • N Gehrels
  • S Covino
  • A Moretti
  • P Romano
  • P T O'Brien
  • C L Sarazin
  • C Kouveliotou
  • M Goad
  • S Vaughan
  • G Tagliaferri
  • B Zhang
  • L A Antonelli
  • S Campana
  • J R Cummings
  • P D'Avanzo
  • Melvyn B Davies
  • P Giommi
  • D Grupe
  • Y Kaneko
  • J A Kennea
  • A King
  • S Kobayashi
  • A Melandri
  • P Meszaros
  • J A Nousek
  • S Patel
  • T Sakamoto
  • R A M J Wijers
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Summary, in English

Two short (< 2 s) gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have recently been localized(1-4) and fading afterglow counterparts detected(2-4). The combination of these two results left unclear the nature of the host galaxies of the bursts, because one was a star-forming dwarf, while the other was probably an elliptical galaxy. Here we report the X-ray localization of a short burst (GRB 050724) with unusual gamma-ray and X-ray properties. The X-ray afterglow lies off the centre of an elliptical galaxy at a redshift of z = 0.258 (ref. 5), coincident with the position determined by ground-based optical and radio observations(6-8). The low level of star formation typical for elliptical galaxies makes it unlikely that the burst originated in a supernova explosion. A supernova origin was also ruled out for GRB 050709 ( refs 3, 31), even though that burst took place in a galaxy with current star formation. The isotropic energy for the short bursts is 2 - 3 orders of magnitude lower than that for the long bursts. Our results therefore suggest that an alternative source of bursts - the coalescence of binary systems of neutron stars or a neutron star-black hole pair - are the progenitors of short bursts.

Publishing year

2005

Language

English

Pages

994-996

Publication/Series

Nature

Volume

438

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Nature Publishing Group

Topic

  • Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0028-0836