Journal
NATURE ASTRONOMY
Volume 5, Issue 9, Pages 917-+Publisher
NATURE PORTFOLIO
DOI: 10.1038/s41550-021-01428-7
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Funding
- GROWTH (Global Relay of Observatories Watching Transients Happen) project - National Science Foundation under PIRE [1545949]
- National Science Foundation [AST-1440341, AST-1005313, PHY-2010970, 1829740]
- Caltech
- IPAC
- Weizmann Institute for Science
- Oskar Klein Center at Stockholm University
- University of Maryland
- University of Washington (UW)
- Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron
- Humboldt University
- Los Alamos National Laboratories
- TANGO Consortium of Taiwan
- University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories
- NASA [80GSFC17M0002]
- State Agency for Research of the Spanish MCIU through the 'Center of Excellence Severo Ochoa' award [SEV-2017-0709]
- Heising-Simons Foundation [12540303]
- Science Foundation Ireland [17/CDA/4723]
- Irish Research Council (IRC) [GOIPG/2019/2033]
- GROWTH PIRE grant [1545949]
- G.R.E.A.T research environment
- Wenner-Gren Foundations
- Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO)
- LSSTC
- Brinson Foundation
- Moore Foundation
- Department of Science and Technology [DST/SJF/PSA-01/2014-15]
- RFBR [18-29-21030]
- Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) [17/CDA/4723] Funding Source: Science Foundation Ireland (SFI)
- Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure (OAC)
- Direct For Computer & Info Scie & Enginr [1829740] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Gamma-ray bursts are some of the brightest and most energetic events in the Universe, with different durations and hardness distributions indicating different progenitors. This study presents the discovery of a new optical transient related to collapsar, while GRB 200826A is found to be the shortest LGRB associated with collapsar.
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are among the brightest and most energetic events in the Universe. The duration and hardness distribution of GRBs has two clusters(1), now understood to reflect (at least) two different progenitors(2). Short-hard GRBs (SGRBs; T-90 < 2 s) arise from compact binary mergers, and long-soft GRBs (LGRBs; T-90 > 2 s) have been attributed to the collapse of peculiar massive stars (collapsars)(3). The discovery of SN 1998bw/GRB 980425 (ref. (4)) marked the first association of an LGRB with a collapsar, and AT 2017gfo (ref. (5))/GRB 170817A/GW170817 (ref. (6)) marked the first association of an SGRB with a binary neutron star merger, which also produced a gravitational wave. Here, we present the discovery of ZTF20abwysqy (AT2020scz), a fast-fading optical transient in the Fermi satellite and the Interplanetary Network localization regions of GRB 200826A; X-ray and radio emission further confirm that this is the afterglow. Follow-up imaging (at rest-frame 16.5 days) reveals excess emission above the afterglow that cannot be explained as an underlying kilonova, but which is consistent with being the supernova. Although the GRB duration is short (rest-frame T-90 of 0.65 s), our panchromatic follow-up data confirm a collapsar origin. GRB 200826A is the shortest LGRB found with an associated collapsar; it appears to sit on the brink between a successful and a failed collapsar. Our discovery is consistent with the hypothesis that most collapsars fail to produce ultra-relativistic jets.
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