Prompt Optical Observations of Gamma-ray Bursts

Carl Akerlof; Richard Balsano; Scott Barthelmy; Jeff Bloch; Paul Butterworth; Don Casperson; Tom Cline; Sandra Fletcher; Fillippo Frontera; Galen Gisler; John Heise; Jack Hills; Kevin Hurley; Robert Kehoe; Brian Lee; Stuart Marshall; Tim McKay; Andrew Pawl; Luigi Piro; John Szymanski; Jim Wren

doi:10.1086/312567

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arXiv · astro-ph/0001438

Prompt Optical Observations of Gamma-ray Bursts

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Abstract

The Robotic Optical Transient Search Experiment (ROTSE) seeks to measure simultaneous and early afterglow optical emission from gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). A search for optical counterparts to six GRBs with localization errors of 1 square degree or better produced no detections. The earliest limiting sensitivity is m(ROTSE) > 13.1 at 10.85 seconds (5 second exposure) after the gamma-ray rise, and the best limit is m(ROTSE) > 16.0 at 62 minutes (897 second exposure). These are the most stringent limits obtained for GRB optical counterpart brightness in the first hour after the burst. Consideration of the gamma-ray fluence and peak flux for these bursts and for GRB990123 indicates that there is not a strong positive correlation between optical flux and gamma-ray emission.

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Carl Akerlof, Richard Balsano, Scott Barthelmy, Jeff Bloch, Paul Butterworth, Don Casperson, Tom Cline, Sandra Fletcher, Fillippo Frontera, Galen Gisler, John Heise, Jack Hills, Kevin Hurley, Robert Kehoe, Brian Lee, Stuart Marshall, Tim McKay, Andrew Pawl, Luigi Piro, John Szymanski, Jim Wren. 2000-01-25. Prompt Optical Observations of Gamma-ray Bursts. https://doi.org/10.1086/312567

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