2004/09/21 by D. Watson, J. Hjorth, P. Jakobsson +4 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1051/0004-6361:200400058
published as Astron.Astrophys. 425 (2004) L33-L36 · 5 pages
openalex publication_date 2004/09/21 · arxiv created 2004/09/23 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
The hard X-ray (2–10 keV) luminosity of a star-forming galaxy tracks its population of high mass X-ray binaries and is essentially unobscured. It is therefore a practically unbiased measure of star-formation in the host galaxies of γ-ray bursts (GRBs). Using recent and archival observations of GRBs with the XMM-Newton and Chandra X-ray observatories, limits are placed on the underlying X-ray emission from GRB hosts. Useful limits on the current massive star-formation rates (SFRs), unaffected by obscuration, are obtained for the hosts of three low redshift GRBs: GRB 980425, GRB 030329 and GRB 031203. These limits show that though the specific SFRs may be high (as in dwarf starburst galaxies), none have massive obscured star-formation at the levels implied by the sub-mm detection of some GRB hosts. It is also shown that in cases where the faint luminosities of the late time afterglow or supernova emission are of interest, the contribution of the host galaxy to the X-ray flux may be significant.