2003ApJ...586L...9L -
Astrophys. J., 586, L9-L12 (2003/March-3)
The early light curve of the optical afterglow of GRB 021211.
LI W., FILIPPENKO A.V., CHORNOCK R. and JHA S.
Abstract (from CDS):
The Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope (KAIT) at Lick Observatory observed gamma-ray burst GRB 021211 starting 105 s after the burst, among the earliest observations of an optical afterglow to date. Our well-sampled light curve, consisting of 18 points in the first 10 minutes and a total of 28 useful observations in the first 2.5 hr after the GRB, directly shows for the first time a break at t~10 minutes. The light curve can be represented as a sum of two components with power-law decay indices of -1.82±0.02 and -0.82±0.11. We hypothesize that the data before the break were dominated by emission from the reverse shock, as was previously suggested for GRB 990123. Our data suggest that either GRB 021211 underwent a dramatic color change at early times or there are small-scale variations superposed on the power-law decay of the reverse-shock emission. The faintness of GRB 021211, coupled with the fast decline typical of optical afterglows, suggests that some of the ``dark bursts'' were not detected because optical observations commenced too late after the GRB.
Abstract Copyright:
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Journal keyword(s):
Gamma Rays: Bursts
Simbad objects:
5
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