GRB hosts through cosmic time. VLT/X-Shooter emission-line spectroscopy of 96 γ-ray-burst-selected galaxies at 0.1 <z < 3.6

We present data and initial results from VLT/X-Shooter emission-line spectroscopy of 96 galaxies selected by long γ-ray bursts (GRBs) at 0.1 <z< 3.6, the largest sample of GRB host spectra available to date. Most of our GRBs were detected by Swift and 76% are at 0.5 <z< 2.5 with a median z_med ~ 1.6. Based on Balmer and/or forbidden lines of oxygen, nitrogen, and neon, we measure systemic redshifts, star formation rates (SFR), visual attenuations (A_V), oxygen abundances (12 + log (O/H)), and emission-line widths (σ). We study GRB hosts up to z ~ 3.5 and find a strong change in their typical physical properties with redshift. The median SFR of our GRB hosts increases from SFR_med ~ 0.6 M_⊙ yr^-1 at z ~ 0.6 up to SFR_med ~ 15 M_⊙ yr^-1 at z ~ 2. A higher ratio of [O iii]/[O ii] at higher redshifts leads to an increasing distance of GRB-selected galaxies to the locus of local galaxies in the Baldwin-Phillips-Terlevich diagram. There is weak evidence for a redshift evolution in A_V and σ, with the highest values seen at z ~ 1.5 (A_V) or z ~ 2 (σ). Oxygen abundances of the galaxies are distributed between 12 + log (O/H) = 7.9 and 12 + log (O/H) = 9.0 with a median 12 + log (O/H)_med ~ 8.5. The fraction of GRB-selected galaxies with super-solar metallicities is ~20% at z< 1 in the adopted metallicity scale. This is significantly less than the fraction of total star formation in similar galaxies, illustrating that GRBs are scarce in high metallicity environments. At z ~ 3, sensitivity limits us to probing only the most luminous GRB hosts for which we derive metallicities of Z ≲ 0.5 Z_⊙. Together with a high incidence of Z ~ 0.5 Z_⊙ galaxies at z ~ 1.5, this indicates that a metallicity dependence at low redshift will not be dominant at z ~ 3. Significant correlations exist between the hosts' physical properties. Oxygen abundance, for example, relates to A_V (12 + log (O/H) ∝ 0.17·A_V), line width (12 + log (O/H) ∝ σ^0.6), and SFR (12 + log (O/H) ∝ SFR^0.2). In the last two cases, the normalization of the relations shift to lower metallicities at z> 2 by ~0.4 dex. These properties of GRB hosts and their evolution with redshift can be understood in a cosmological context of star-forming galaxies and a picture in which the hosts' properties at low redshift are influenced by the tendency of GRBs to avoid the most metal-rich environments.

Based on observations at ESO, Program IDs: 084.A-0260, 084.A-0303, 085.A-0009, 086.B-0954, 086.A-0533, 086.A-0874, 087.A-0055, 087.A-0451, 087.B-0737, 088.A-0051, 088.A-0644, 089.A-0067, 089.A-0120, 089.D-0256, 089.A-0868, 090.A-0088, 090.A-0760, 090.A-0825, 091.A-0342, 091.A-0703, 091.A-0877, 091.C-0934, 092.A-0076, 092.A-0124, 092.A-0231, 093.A-0069, 094.A-0593.Tables 1-4 and appendices are available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.orgThe reduced spectra are only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (ftp://130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/581/A125