Professor Rob Fender

Abstract:

Multiwavelength polarimetry and radio observations of Swift J1727.8–1613 at the beginning of its recent 2023 outburst suggested the presence of a bright compact jet aligned in the north–south direction, which could not be confirmed without high-angular-resolution images. Using the Very Long Baseline Array and the Long Baseline Array, we imaged Swift J1727.8–1613 during the hard/hard-intermediate state, revealing a bright core and a large, two-sided, asymmetrical, resolved jet. The jet extends in the north–south direction, at a position angle of −0.60° ± 0.07° east of north. At 8.4 GHz, the entire resolved jet structure is ∼110(d/2.7kpc)/sini au long, with the southern approaching jet extending ∼80(d/2.7kpc)/sini au from the core, where d is the distance to the source and i is the inclination of the jet axis to the line of sight. These images reveal the most resolved continuous X-ray binary jet, and possibly the most physically extended continuous X-ray binary jet ever observed. Based on the brightness ratio of the approaching and receding jets, we put a lower limit on the intrinsic jet speed of β ≥ 0.27 and an upper limit on the jet inclination of i ≤ 74°. In our first observation we also detected a rapidly fading discrete jet knot 66.89 ± 0.04 mas south of the core, with a proper motion of 0.66 ± 0.05 mas hr−1, which we interpret as the result of a downstream internal shock or a jet–interstellar medium interaction, as opposed to a transient relativistic jet launched at the beginning of the outburst.

Abstract:

We present the discovery of the radio afterglow of the short gamma-ray burst (GRB) 210726A, localized to a galaxy at a photometric redshift of z ∼ 2.4. While radio observations commenced ≲1 day after the burst, no radio emission was detected until ∼11 days. The radio afterglow subsequently brightened by a factor of ∼3 in the span of a week, followed by a rapid decay (a “radio flare”). We find that a forward shock afterglow model cannot self-consistently describe the multiwavelength X-ray and radio data, and underpredicts the flux of the radio flare by a factor of ≈5. We find that the addition of substantial energy injection, which increases the isotropic kinetic energy of the burst by a factor of ≈4, or a reverse shock from a shell collision are viable solutions to match the broadband behavior. At z ∼ 2.4, GRB 210726A is among the highest-redshift short GRBs discovered to date, as well as the most luminous in radio and X-rays. Combining and comparing all previous radio afterglow observations of short GRBs, we find that the majority of published radio searches conclude by ≲10 days after the burst, potentially missing these late-rising, luminous radio afterglows.