Detection of GRB 060927 at z = 5.47: Implications for the Use of Gamma-Ray Bursts as Probes of the End of the Dark Ages

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dc.creatorRuiz-Velasco, A. E.
dc.creatorSwan, H.
dc.creatorTroja, E.
dc.creatorMalesani, D.
dc.creatorFynbo, J. P. U.
dc.creatorStarling, R. L. C.
dc.creatorXu, D.
dc.creatorAharonian, F.
dc.creatorAkerlof, C.
dc.creatorAndersen, M. I.
dc.creatorAshley, M. C. B.
dc.creatorBarthelmy, S. D.
dc.creatorBersier, D.
dc.creatorCerón, J. M. Castro
dc.creatorCastro-Tirado, A. J.
dc.creatorGehrels, N.
dc.creatorGöğüş, E.
dc.creatorGorosabel, J.
dc.creatorGuidorzi, C.
dc.creatorGüver, T.
dc.creatorHjorth, J.
dc.creatorHorns, D.
dc.creatorHuang, K. Y.
dc.creatorJakobsson, P.
dc.creatorJensen, B. L.
dc.creatorKızıloǧlu, Ü.
dc.creatorKouveliotou, C.
dc.creatorKrimm, H. A.
dc.creatorLedoux, C.
dc.creatorLevan, A. J.
dc.creatorMarsh, T.
dc.creatorMcKay, T.
dc.creatorMelandri, A.
dc.creatorMilvang-Jensen, B.
dc.creatorMundell, C. G.
dc.creatorO'Brien, P. T.
dc.creatorÖzel, M.
dc.creatorPhillips, A.
dc.creatorQuimby, R.
dc.creatorRowell, G.
dc.creatorRujopakarn, W.
dc.creatorRykoff, E. S.
dc.creatorSchaefer, B. E.
dc.creatorSollerman, J.
dc.creatorTanvir, N. R.
dc.creatorThöne, C. C.
dc.creatorUrata, Y.
dc.creatorVestrand, W. T.
dc.creatorVreeswijk, P. M.
dc.creatorWatson, D.
dc.creatorWheeler, J. C.
dc.creatorWijers, R. A. M. J.
dc.creatorWren, J.
dc.creatorYost, S. A.
dc.creatorYuan, F.
dc.creatorZhai, M.
dc.creatorZheng, W. K.
dc.date2007-06-11
dc.date2007-07-13
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T09:31:52Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T09:31:52Z
dc.descriptionWe report on follow-up observations of the GRB 060927 using the ROTSE-IIIa telescope and a suite of larger aperture ground-based telescopes. An optical afterglow was detected 20 s after the burst, the earliest rest-frame detection of optical emission from any GRB. Spectroscopy performed with the VLT about 13 hours after the trigger shows a continuum break at lambda ~ 8070 A produced by neutral hydrogen absorption at z~5.6. We also detect an absorption line at 8158 A which we interpret as SiII at z=5.467. Hence, GRB 060927 is the second most distant GRB with a spectroscopically measured redshift. The shape of the red wing of the spectral break can be fitted by a damped Lyalpha profile with a column density with log(N_HI/cm^-2) ~ 22.5. We discuss the implications of this work for the use of GRBs as probes of the end of the dark ages and draw three main conclusions: i) GRB afterglows originating from z>6 should be relatively easy to detect from the ground, but rapid NIR monitoring is necessary to ensure that they are found; ii) The presence of large HI column densities in some GRBs host galaxies at z>5 makes the use of GRBs to probe the reionization epoch via spectroscopy of the red damping wing challenging; iii) GRBs appear crucial to locate typical star-forming galaxies at z>5 and therefore the type of galaxies responsible for the reionization of the universe.
dc.description15 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in ApJ, uses emulateapj
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/0706.1257
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/0706.1257
dc.identifierAstrophys.J. 669 (2007) 1-9
dc.identifierdoi:10.1086/521546
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/158610
dc.subjectAstrophysics
dc.titleDetection of GRB 060927 at z = 5.47: Implications for the Use of Gamma-Ray Bursts as Probes of the End of the Dark Ages
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