GRB 060313: A New Paradigm For Short-hard Bursts?
Abstract
Observations of the prompt emission and the afterglow of GRB 060313, by the Swift-BAT, -XRT, -UVOT, and the KONUS-Wind instruments, provide the most comprehensive lightcurve to date of a short-hard burst at such an early epoch. The prompt emission observations reveal multiple peaks in both the gamma-ray and hard X-ray bands suggestive of a highly variable outflow from the central explosion. The early-time afterglow observations uncover a complex structure with different decay indices and flaring. We discuss two possible mechanisms for explaining the complex lightcurve behavior: the combination of a structured jet, radiative loss of energy, and decreasing microphysics parameters occurring in a circum-burst medium with densities varying by a factor of approximately two on a length scale of 1017 cm, or, soft late-time central engine activity is producing UV/optical but no X-ray flaring. This work is sponsored at Penn State by NASA contract NAS5-00136 and at University College London, Mullard Space Science Lab by funding from PPARC. The KONUS-Wind experiment is supported by a Russian Space Agency contract and RFBR grant 06-02-16070.
- Publication:
-
AAS/High Energy Astrophysics Division #9
- Pub Date:
- September 2006
- Bibcode:
- 2006HEAD....9.1705R