Radio Observations of γ-Ray Burst Afterglows

Abstract

Since 1997 the afterglow of gamma-ray bursting sources (GRBs) has occasionally been detected in the radio, as well in other wavelengths bands. In particular, the interesting and unusual gamma-ray burst GRB980425, thought to be related to the radio supernova SN1998bw, is a possible link between the two classes of objects. Analyzing the extensive radio emission data available for SN1998bw, one can describe its time evolution within the well established framework available for the analysis of radio emission from supernovae. This then allows relatively detailed description of a number of physical properties of the object. The radio emission can best be explained as the interaction of a mildly relativistic (Gamma char 1261.6) shock with a dense pre- explosion stellar wind-established circumstellar medium that is highly structured both azimuthally, in clumps or filaments, and radially, with observed density enhancements. Because of its unusual characteristics for a type Ib/c supernova, the relation of SN1998bw to GRB980425 is strengthened and suggests that at least some classes of GRBs originate in supernova massive star explosions. Thus, employing the formalism for describing the radio emission from supernovae and following the link through SN1998bw/GRB980425, it is possible to model the gross properties of the radio and optical/IR emission from the half-dozen GRBs with extensive radio observations. From this we conclude that at least some members of the slow-soft class of GRBs can be attributed to the explosion of a massive star in a dense, highly structured CSM that was presumably established by the pre-explosion stellar system.