1. GRB 231115A -- a magnetar giant flare in the M82 galaxy
- Author
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Minaev, P. Yu., Pozanenko, A. S., Grebenev, S. A., Chelovekov, I. V., Pankov, N. S., Khabibullin, A. A., Inasaridze, R. Ya., and Novichonok, A. O.
- Subjects
Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ,Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics - Abstract
The results of a study of the short gamma-ray burst GRB 231115A in the X-ray and gamma-ray ranges are presented, based on data from the INTEGRAL and Fermi space observatories. The source of the burst is localized by the IBIS/ISGRI telescope of INTEGRAL observatory with an accuracy of $\leq$ 1.5 arcmin, it is located in the Cigar Galaxy (M 82). Early follow-up observations of the burst localization region were carried out in the optical range with the 36-cm telescope of the ISON-Kitab observatory and the 70-cm telescope AS-32 of the Abastumani Astrophysical Observatory, the optical emission has not been detected. The proximity of the host galaxy ($D_L \simeq 3.5$ Mpc) significantly limits energetics of the event ($E_{iso}\ \sim\ 10^{45}$ erg) and allows us to interpret the burst as a giant flare of a previously unknown soft gamma repeater (SGR) which is an extreme manifestation of the activity of a highly magnetized neutron star (magnetar). This conclusion is confirmed by the energy spectrum atypically hard for cosmological gamma-ray bursts, as well as the absence of optical afterglow and gravitational wave signal, which should have been detected in the LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA experiments if the burst was caused by a merger of binary neutron stars. The location of the burst in the $E_{p,i}$ -- $E_{iso}$ and $T_{90,i}$ -- $EH$ diagrams also suggests that GRB 231115A was a magnetar giant flare. This is the first well-localized giant flare of an extragalactic SGR., Comment: 21 pages, 14 figures, accepted to Astronomy Letters at 2023 November 21
- Published
- 2024