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The Astrophysical Journal Volume 599 Number 2 Create an alert RSS this journal

J. Greiner et al. 2003 ApJ 599 1223 doi:10.1086/379606

GRB 011121: A Collimated Outflow into Wind-blown Surroundings*

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J. Greiner1,2, S. Klose3, M. Salvato1,2, A. Zeh3, R. Schwarz1,4, D. H. Hartmann5, N. Masetti6, B. Stecklum3, G. Lamer1, N. Lodieu1, R. D. Scholz1, C. Sterken7, J. Gorosabel8,9, I. Burud9, J. Rhoads9, I. Mitrofanov10, M. Litvak10, A. Sanin10, V. Grinkov10, M. I. Andersen1, J. M. Castro Cerón11, A. J. Castro-Tirado8,12, A. Fruchter9, J. U. Fynbo13, J. Hjorth14, L. Kaper15, C. Kouveliotou16, E. Palazzi6, E. Pian17, E. Rol15, N. R. Tanvir18, P. M. Vreeswijk19, R. A. M. J. Wijers15 and E. van den Heuvel15

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Abstract References Cited By

We report optical and near-infrared follow-up observations of GRB 011121 collected predominantly at ESO telescopes in Chile. We discover a break in the afterglow light curve after 1.3 days, which implies an initial jet opening angle of about 9°. The jet origin of this break is supported by the fact that the spectral energy distribution is achromatic during the first 4 days. During later phases, GRB 011121 shows significant excess emission above the flux predicted by a power law, which we interpret as additional light from an underlying supernova. In particular, the spectral energy distribution of the optical transient approximately 2 weeks after the burst is clearly not of power-law type but can be presented by a blackbody with a temperature of ~6000 K. The deduced parameters for the decay slope and the spectral index favor a wind scenario, i.e., an outflow into a circumburst environment shaped by the stellar wind of a massive gamma-ray burst (GRB) progenitor. Because of its low redshift of z = 0.36, GRB 011121 has been the best example for the GRB-supernova connection until GRB 030329 and provides compelling evidence for a circumburster wind region expected to exist if the progenitor was a massive star.


Footnote
*  Based on observations collected at the European Southern Observatory, La Silla and Paranal, Chile (ESO Programme 165.H-0464).
Subject headings

gamma rays: bursts; supernovae: general; techniques: photometric


Dates

Issue 2 (2003 December 20)

Received 2003 May 28, accepted for publication 2003 September 2



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