2000
DOI: 10.1126/science.290.5493.953
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Discovery of a Transient Absorption Edge in the X-ray Spectrum of GRB 990705

Abstract: We report the discovery of a transient equivalent hydrogen column density with an absorption edge at ∼3.8 kiloelectron volts in the spectrum of the prompt x-ray emission of gamma-ray burst (GRB) 990705. This feature can be satisfactorily modeled with a photoelectric absorption by a medium located at a redshift of ∼0.86 and with an iron abundance of ∼75 times the solar one. The transient behavior is attributed to the strong ionization produced in the circumburst medium by the GRB photons. The high iron abundanc… Show more

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Cited by 170 publications
(218 citation statements)
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“…INTRODUCTION The detection of spectral signatures associated with the environment of a g-ray burst (GRB) would provide important clues about the triggering mechanism and the progenitor (Mészáros & Rees 1998;Lazzati, Campana, & Ghisellini 1999;Böttcher 2000). Observations with Chandra, ASCA, and BeppoSAX have provided tentative evidence for Fe Ka line and edge features in at least five bursts; GRB 970508 (Piro et al 1999), GRB 970828 (Yoshida et al 1999), GRB 991216 (Piro et al 2000), and GRB 000214 (Antonelli et al 2000) all show an emission feature during the X-ray afterglow a few hours to a day after the burst event, while GRB 990705 (Amati et al 2000) displays a prominent X-ray absorption feature during the burst itself. Although most of the line detections are only marginally significant and fail to distinguish between the various line excitation mechanisms, 1 GRB 991216 shows a keV line at a mod-3.49 ‫ע‬ 0.06 erate confidence level (∼4 j).…”
mentioning
confidence: 99%
“…INTRODUCTION The detection of spectral signatures associated with the environment of a g-ray burst (GRB) would provide important clues about the triggering mechanism and the progenitor (Mészáros & Rees 1998;Lazzati, Campana, & Ghisellini 1999;Böttcher 2000). Observations with Chandra, ASCA, and BeppoSAX have provided tentative evidence for Fe Ka line and edge features in at least five bursts; GRB 970508 (Piro et al 1999), GRB 970828 (Yoshida et al 1999), GRB 991216 (Piro et al 2000), and GRB 000214 (Antonelli et al 2000) all show an emission feature during the X-ray afterglow a few hours to a day after the burst event, while GRB 990705 (Amati et al 2000) displays a prominent X-ray absorption feature during the burst itself. Although most of the line detections are only marginally significant and fail to distinguish between the various line excitation mechanisms, 1 GRB 991216 shows a keV line at a mod-3.49 ‫ע‬ 0.06 erate confidence level (∼4 j).…”
mentioning
confidence: 99%
“…GRB 990705 had a 3.8 keV absorption edge in its prompt X-ray emission, consistent with the K-shell of iron at (Amati et al 2000). The other events showed z p 0.86 an emission feature in their after-glows, the iron equivalent of Lyman alpha or a combination feature: GRB 991216 at z p (Piro et al 2000a), GRB 000214 at (Antonelli 1.00 z p 0.…”
Section: Bursters and Supernovaementioning
confidence: 84%
“…The particle density is 3 10 31 e ¤ cm 3 . If we assume that the magnetic energy B 2 2µ 0 4 10 28 erg cm 3 is shared among them, each particle gets an energy ε 0 1 § 3η acc 10 3 erg, where η acc is the acceleration efficiency.…”
Section: Energetics Time Duration and Variabilitymentioning
confidence: 99%
“…The temporal decay of the emission in different frequencies for several GRBs has been interpreted according to the fireball model and suggested jet beaming with opening angle θ 4 £ [2]. Another important discovery made in the last year is the presence of iron lines in the X-ray spectrum of GRBs (for example [3,4,5]). This provides a powerful tool to understand the nature and the environment of GRB primary sources [6,7].…”
Section: Phenomenological Overviewmentioning
confidence: 99%