The unusual X-ray light curve of GRB080307: the onset of the afterglow?
Abstract
Swift-detected GRB080307 showed an unusual smooth rise in its X-ray light curve around 100s after the burst, at the start of which the emission briefly softened. This `hump' has a longer duration than is normal for a flare at early times and does not demonstrate a typical flare profile. Using a two-component power-law-to-exponential model, the rising emission can be modelled as the onset of the afterglow, something which is very rarely seen in Swift-X-ray light curves. We cannot, however, rule out that the hump is a particularly slow early-time flare, or that it is caused by upscattered reverse shock electrons.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- May 2009
- DOI:
- 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.14509.x
- arXiv:
- arXiv:0901.2219
- Bibcode:
- 2009MNRAS.395..328P
- Keywords:
-
- radiation mechanisms: non-thermal;
- gamma-rays: bursts;
- X-rays: individual: GRB080307;
- Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
- E-Print:
- 8 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS