The X-ray afterglow of the short gamma ray burst 050724
/ Authors
S. Campana, G. Tagliaferri, D. Lazzati, G. Chincarini, G. Chincarini, S. Covino, K. Page, P. Romano, A. Moretti, G. Cusumano
and 17 more authors
V. Mangano, T. Mineo, V. Parola, P. Giommi, M. Perri, M. Capalbi, Bing Zhang, S. Barthelmy, J. Cummings, T. Sakamoto, D. Burrows, J. Kennea, J. Nousek, J. Osborne, P. O’Brien, O. Godet, N. Gehrels
/ Abstract
Received; accepted Abstract. Short duration ( < ∼ 2 s) Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have been a mystery since their discovery. Until May 2005 very little was known about short GRBs, but this situation has changed rapidly in the last few months since the Swift and HETE-2 satellites have made it possible to discover X-ray and optical counterparts to these sources. Positional associations indicate that short GRBs arise in close-by galaxies (z < 0.7). Here we report on a detailed study of the short GRB 050724 X-ray afterglow. This burst shows strong flaring variability in the X-ray band . It clearly confirms early suggestions of X-ray activity in t he 50- 100 s time interval following the GRB onset seen with BATSE. Late flare activity is also observed. These observations supp ort the idea that flares are related to the inner engine for short G RBs, as well as long GRBs.
Journal: Astronomy and Astrophysics