Investigating a population of infrared-bright gamma-ray burst host galaxies
Investigating a population of infrared-bright gamma-ray burst host galaxies
We identify and explore the properties of an infrared-bright gamma-ray burst (GRB) host population. Candidate hosts are selected by coincidence with sources in WISE, with matching to random coordinates and a false alarm probability analysis showing that the contamination fraction is ~0.5. This methodology has already identified the host galaxy of GRB080517. We combine survey photometry from Pan-STARRS, SDSS, APASS, 2MASS, GALEX, and WISE with our own WHT/ACAM and VLT/X-shooter observations to classify the candidates and identify interlopers. Galaxy SED fitting is performed using MAGPHYS, in addition to stellar template fitting, yielding 13 possible IR-bright hosts. A further seven candidates are identified from the previously published work. We report a candidate host for GRB061002, previously unidentified as such. The remainder of the galaxies have already been noted as potential hosts. Comparing the IR-bright population properties including redshift z, stellar mass M*, star formation rate SFR, and V-band attenuation AV to GRB host catalogues in the literature, we find that the infrared-bright population is biased towards low z, high M*, and high AV. This naturally arises from their initial selection - local and dusty galaxies are more likely to have the required IR flux to be detected in WISE. We conclude that while IR-bright GRB hosts are not a physically distinct class, they are useful for constraining existing GRB host populations, particularly for long GRBs.
Dust: Extinction, Galaxies: Star formation, Galaxies: Statistics, Gamma-ray burst: General, Infrared: Galaxies
2-27
Chrimes, Ashley A.
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Stanway, Elizabeth R.
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Levan, Andrew J.
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Davies, L.J.M.
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Angus, Charlotte R.
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Greis, Stephanie M.L.
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21 July 2018
Chrimes, Ashley A.
e302f2ca-aba0-4ac4-8a3a-f3ed0671eb89
Stanway, Elizabeth R.
7b9d81a2-460c-47d3-b777-e4ae3a0ca821
Levan, Andrew J.
50ce2f6e-0dc7-4679-ad18-c48fdc441310
Davies, L.J.M.
2c35b3c1-8055-48e8-bfd2-67f44c3b3f52
Angus, Charlotte R.
7a190f2d-9816-4960-8695-e694c39f099c
Greis, Stephanie M.L.
000aa107-3ddb-4ab4-8532-06c88b9767e3
Chrimes, Ashley A., Stanway, Elizabeth R., Levan, Andrew J., Davies, L.J.M., Angus, Charlotte R. and Greis, Stephanie M.L.
(2018)
Investigating a population of infrared-bright gamma-ray burst host galaxies.
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 478 (1), .
(doi:10.1093/mnras/sty1043).
Abstract
We identify and explore the properties of an infrared-bright gamma-ray burst (GRB) host population. Candidate hosts are selected by coincidence with sources in WISE, with matching to random coordinates and a false alarm probability analysis showing that the contamination fraction is ~0.5. This methodology has already identified the host galaxy of GRB080517. We combine survey photometry from Pan-STARRS, SDSS, APASS, 2MASS, GALEX, and WISE with our own WHT/ACAM and VLT/X-shooter observations to classify the candidates and identify interlopers. Galaxy SED fitting is performed using MAGPHYS, in addition to stellar template fitting, yielding 13 possible IR-bright hosts. A further seven candidates are identified from the previously published work. We report a candidate host for GRB061002, previously unidentified as such. The remainder of the galaxies have already been noted as potential hosts. Comparing the IR-bright population properties including redshift z, stellar mass M*, star formation rate SFR, and V-band attenuation AV to GRB host catalogues in the literature, we find that the infrared-bright population is biased towards low z, high M*, and high AV. This naturally arises from their initial selection - local and dusty galaxies are more likely to have the required IR flux to be detected in WISE. We conclude that while IR-bright GRB hosts are not a physically distinct class, they are useful for constraining existing GRB host populations, particularly for long GRBs.
Full text not available from this repository.
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 23 April 2018
e-pub ahead of print date: 31 May 2018
Published date: 21 July 2018
Keywords:
Dust: Extinction, Galaxies: Star formation, Galaxies: Statistics, Gamma-ray burst: General, Infrared: Galaxies
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 424838
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/424838
ISSN: 0035-8711
PURE UUID: 3abbefdd-3978-4d34-bc25-bc1abad031c9
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Date deposited: 05 Oct 2018 11:49
Last modified: 03 Feb 2021 17:41
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Contributors
Author:
Ashley A. Chrimes
Author:
Elizabeth R. Stanway
Author:
Andrew J. Levan
Author:
L.J.M. Davies
Author:
Charlotte R. Angus
Author:
Stephanie M.L. Greis
University divisions
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