2006/02/17 by P. R. Woźniak, P. R. Wozniak, W. T. Vestrand +5 · 52 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Afterglow #Astro and Planetary Science #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Flux (metallurgy) #Galaxy #Gamma-ray burst #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Light curve #Physics #Redshift #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #Telescope #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/504796
published in The Astrophysical Journal 642(2), L99-L102 (IOP Publishing) · Submitted to ApJ Letters
arxiv created 2006/02/17 · openalex publication_date 2006/04/25 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The Rap id T elescopes for O ptical R esponse (RAPTOR) system at Los Alamos National Laboratory observed GRB 060206 starting 48.1 minutes after γ-ray emission triggered the Burst Alert Telescope on board the Swift satellite. The afterglow light curve measured by RAPTOR shows a spectacular rebrightening by ~1 mag about 1 hr after the trigger and peaks at R ~ 16.4 mag. Shortly after the onset of the explosive rebrightening, the optical transient doubled its flux on a timescale of about 4 minutes. The total R -band fluence received from GRB 060206 during this episode is 2.3 × 10 -9 ergs cm -2 . In the rest frame of the burst ( z = 4.045), this yields an isotropic equivalent energy release of E iso ~ 0.7 × 10 50 ergs in just a narrow UV band, λ ≃ 130 ± 22 nm. We discuss the implications of RAPTOR observations for untriggered searches for fast optical transients and studies of GRB environments at high redshift.