• Title/Summary/Keyword: gamma-ray burst: general

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FIRST KOREAN OBSERVATIONS OF GAMMA-RAY BURST AFTERGLOWS AT MT. LEMMON OPTICAL ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORY (LOAO)

  • Lee, In-Duk;Im, Myung-Shin;Urata, Yuji
    • Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.43 no.3
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    • pp.95-104
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    • 2010
  • We outline our GRB afterglow observation program using the 1-m telescope at Mt. Lemmon Optical Astronomy Observatory (LOAO), and report the first observations of the GRB afterglows. During the 2007B semester, we performed follow-up imaging obsrevations of 6 GRBs, and succeeded in detecting four GRB afterglows (GRB 071010B, GRB 071018, GRB 071020, and GRB 071025) while placing useful upper limits on the light curves of the other GRBs. Among the observed events, we find that three events are special and interesting. GRB 071010B has a light curve which has an unusually long jet break time of 11.8 days. For GRB 071025, its red R-I(~2) color suggests that it is likely to be at z~5. GRB 071020 has a light curve which shows a clear brightening at 0.3-1 days after the burst, where our LOAO data play a crucial role by providing an unambiguous evidence for the brightening. These are the first successful detections of GRB afterglows by a facility owned and operated by a Korean institution, demonstrating the usefulness of the 1-m telescope for transient phenomena such as GRBs up to very high redshift.

The Spectral Sharpness Angle of Gamma-ray Bursts

  • Yu, Hoi-Fung;van Eerten, Hendrik J.;Greiner, Jochen;Sari, Re'em;Bhat, P. Narayana;Kienlin, Andreas von;Paciesas, William S.;Preece, Robert D.
    • Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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    • v.33 no.2
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    • pp.109-117
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    • 2016
  • We explain the results of Yu et al. (2015b) of the novel sharpness angle measurement to a large number of spectra obtained from the Fermi gamma-ray burst monitor. The sharpness angle is compared to the values obtained from various representative emission models: blackbody, single-electron synchrotron, synchrotron emission from a Maxwellian or power-law electron distribution. It is found that more than 91% of the high temporally and spectrally resolved spectra are inconsistent with any kind of optically thin synchrotron emission model alone. It is also found that the limiting case, a single temperature Maxwellian synchrotron function, can only contribute up to 58+23−18% of the peak flux. These results show that even the sharpest but non-realistic case, the single-electron synchrotron function, cannot explain a large fraction of the observed spectra. Since any combination of physically possible synchrotron spectra added together will always further broaden the spectrum, emission mechanisms other than optically thin synchrotron radiation are likely required in a full explanation of the spectral peaks or breaks of the GRB prompt emission phase.

Performance of CQUEAN camera

  • Choi, Chang-Su;Park, Won-Kee;Jeon, Yi-Seul;Pak, Soo-Jong;Im, Myung-Shin
    • The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.35 no.2
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    • pp.63.1-63.1
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    • 2010
  • CQUEAN (Camera for QUasars in EArly uNiverse) is a newly developed camera system by CEOU optimized at 0.8 - $1.1{\mu}m$ wavelength region. From Aug. 10 to Aug. 17, 2010, the camera was installed at 2.1m Otto Struve telescope at McDonald Observatory, USA, and engineering test observation was performed. We obtained the data for the characteristics of camera and scientific purpose using 7 filters (g, r, i, z, Is, Iz, Y). For the purpose of discovery of z - 5~6 quasar, we specially used new filters (Is,Iz). During the test observation, we obtained the data of Gamma-Ray Burst, high redshift quasars, high redshift quasar candidates and other calibration data. We present general characteristics of the reduced data taken with CQUEAN and show the performance of the camera.

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