Authors
J Greiner, T Krühler, JPU Fynbo, A Rossi, R Schwarz, S Klose, Sandra Savaglio, NR Tanvir, S McBreen, T Totani, BB Zhang, XF Wu, D Watson, SD Barthelmy, AP Beardmore, P Ferrero, N Gehrels, DA Kann, N Kawai, A Küpcü Yoldaş, P Mészáros, B Milvang-Jensen, SR Oates, D Pierini, P Schady, K Toma, PM Vreeswijk, A Yoldaş, B Zhang, P Afonso, K Aoki, DN Burrows, C Clemens, R Filgas, Z Haiman, Dieter H Hartmann, G Hasinger, J Hjorth, Emmanuel Jehin, AJ Levan, EW Liang, D Malesani, T-S Pyo, S Schulze, G Szokoly, K Terada, K Wiersema
Publication date
2009/3/10
Journal
The Astrophysical Journal
Volume
693
Issue
2
Pages
1610
Publisher
IOP Publishing
Description
We report on the detection by Swift of GRB 080913, and subsequent optical/near-infrared follow-up observations by GROND, which led to the discovery of its optical/NIR afterglow and the recognition of its high-z nature via the detection of a spectral break between the i'and z'bands. Spectroscopy obtained at the ESO-VLT revealed a continuum extending down to λ= 9400 Å, and zero flux for 7500 Å< λ< 9400 Å, which we interpret as the onset of a Gunn–Peterson trough at z= 6.695±0.025 (95.5% confidence level), making GRB 080913 the highest-redshift gamma-ray burst (GRB) to date, and more distant than the highest-redshift QSO. We note that many redshift indicators that are based on promptly available burst or afterglow properties have failed for GRB 080913. We report on our follow-up campaign and compare the properties of GRB 080913 with bursts at lower redshift. In particular, since the afterglow of this …
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J Greiner, T Krühler, JPU Fynbo, A Rossi, R Schwarz… - The Astrophysical Journal, 2009