Open AccessDetermining the location of gamma‐ray bursts through the evolution of their soft X‐ray absorption
Author(s) -
Lazzati Davide,
Perna Rosalba
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.058
H-Index - 383
eISSN - 1365-2966
pISSN - 0035-8711
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-8711.2002.05064.x
Subject(s) - physics , gamma ray burst , astrophysics , absorption (acoustics) , x ray , ionization , molecular cloud , flux (metallurgy) , phase (matter) , optics , stars , ion , materials science , quantum mechanics , metallurgy
We investigate through dedicated numerical simulations the evolution of the soft X‐ray absorption properties of a cloud surrounding a gamma‐ray burst source. We show that the absorption properties of the material are strongly modified by the ionization induced by the intense burst flux. We derive the temporal evolution of the measured column density as a function of the density and size of the absorbing medium. Even if their statistical significance is not extremely compelling, we find that the detection in several bursts of variable absorption during the gamma‐ray phase can be accounted for if these bursts are associated to overdense regions in molecular clouds with properties similar to those of star formation globules. We fit our model variable column density to the data of GRB 980329 and GRB 780506, showing that with this method the size, density and density distribution of the material surrounding a burst can be measured.