GRB 221009A: The BOAT
/ Authors
E. Burns, D. Svinkin, E. Fenimore, D. A. Kann, J. Feliciano, Agüí Fernández, D. Frederiks, R. Hamburg, S. Lesage, Yu. R. Temiraev
and 21 more authors
A. Tsvetkova, E. Bissaldi, M. Briggs, S. Dalessi, Rachel Dunwoody, C. Fletcher, A. Goldstein, C. Hui, B. Hristov, D. Kocevski, A. Lysenko, B. Mailyan, J. Mangan, S. McBreen, J. Racusin, A. Ridnaia, O. Roberts, M. Ulanov, P. Veres, C. Wilson-Hodge, J. Wood
/ Abstract
GRB 221009A has been referred to as the brightest of all time (BOAT). We investigate the veracity of this statement by comparing it with a half century of prompt gamma-ray burst observations. This burst is the brightest ever detected by the measures of peak flux and fluence. Unexpectedly, GRB 221009A has the highest isotropic-equivalent total energy ever identified, while the peak luminosity is at the ∼99th percentile of the known distribution. We explore how such a burst can be powered and discuss potential implications for ultralong and high-redshift gamma-ray bursts. By geometric extrapolation of the total fluence and peak flux distributions, GRB 221009A appears to be a once-in-10,000-year event. Thus, it is almost certainly not the BOAT over all of cosmic history; it may be the brightest gamma-ray burst since human civilization began.
Journal: The Astrophysical Journal Letters