Jet Breaks in Short Gamma-Ray Bursts. II: The Collimated Afterglow of GRB 051221A

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dc.creatorBurrows, David N.
dc.creatorGrupe, Dirk
dc.creatorCapalbi, Milvia
dc.creatorPanaitescu, Alin
dc.creatorPatel, Sandeep K.
dc.creatorKouveliotou, Chryssa
dc.creatorZhang, Bing
dc.creatorMeszaros, Peter
dc.creatorChincarini, Guido
dc.creatorGehrels, N.
dc.creatorWijers, Ralph A. M.
dc.date2006-04-13
dc.date2006-08-30
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T10:43:49Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T10:43:49Z
dc.descriptionWe report the best evidence to date of a jet break in a short Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) afterglow, using Chandra and Swift XRT observations of the X-ray afterglow of GRB 051221A. The combined X-ray light curve, which has three breaks, is similar to those commonly observed in Swift observations of long GRBs. A flat segment of the light curve at ~0.1 days after the burst represents the first clear case of strong energy injection in the external shock of a short GRB afterglow. The last break occurs at ~4 days post-burst and breaks to a power-law decay index of ~2. We interpret this as a jet break, with important implications for models of short GRBs, since it requires collimation of the afterglow into a jet with an initial opening angle ~4-8 degrees and implies a total jet kinetic energy of E_jet ~(1-5) x 10^{49} erg. Combined with the lack of a jet break in GRB 050724, this suggests a wide range in jet collimation in short GRBs, with at least some having collimation similar to that found in long GRBs, though with significantly lower jet energies.
dc.description10 pages, 4 figures. Submitted to The Astrophysical Journal 13 April 2006, accepted 7 August 2006. This revision is the accepted version
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0604320
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0604320
dc.identifierAstrophys.J.653:468-473,2006
dc.identifierdoi:10.1086/508740
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/182381
dc.subjectAstrophysics
dc.titleJet Breaks in Short Gamma-Ray Bursts. II: The Collimated Afterglow of GRB 051221A
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