A PHOTOMETRIC REDSHIFT OF z ∼ 9.4 FOR GRB 090429B

By A. Cucchiara, A. Levan, D. Fox, N. Tanvir, T. Ukwatta, E. Berger, T. Krühler, A. Yoldas, Xuefeng Wu, K. Toma and 26 more. 2011

302 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) serve as powerful probes of the early universe, with their luminous afterglows revealing the locations and physical properties of star-forming galaxies at the highest redshifts, and potentially locating first-generation (Population III) stars. Since GRB afterglows have intrinsically very simple spectra, they allow robust redshifts from low signal-to-noise spectroscopy, or photometry. Here we present a photometric redshift of z ∼ 9.4 for the Swift detected GRB 090429B based on deep observations with Gemini-North, the Very Large Telescope, and the GRB Optical and Near-infrared Detector. Assuming a Small Magellanic Cloud dust law (which has been found in a majority of GRB sight lines), the 90% likelihood range for the redshift is 9.06 < z < 9.52, although there is a low-probability tail toward somewhat lower redshifts. Adopting Milky Way or Large Magellanic Cloud dust laws leads to very similar conclusions, while a Maiolino law does allow somewhat lower redshift solutions, though in all cases the most likely redshift is found to be z > 7. The non-detection of the host galaxy to deep limits (Y(AB) ∼ 28, which would correspond roughly to 0.001L* at z = 1) in our late-time optical and infrared observations with the Hubble Space Telescope strongly supports the extreme-redshift origin of GRB 090429B, since we would expect to have detected any low-z galaxy, even if it were highly dusty. Finally, the energetics of GRB 090429B are comparable to those of other GRBs and suggest that its progenitor is not greatly different from those of lower redshift bursts.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/a78d006ab7d1c164ea3397a07f27dd5b8ab3bba8

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In Astronomy and Astrophysics

1. R. Bouwens
2. P. Oesch
3. G. Illingworth
4. M. Franx
5. I. Labbé
6. P. V. van Dokkum
7. Richard S. Ellis
8. M. Trenti

Citations in the corpus

• The Giant Gemini GMOS survey of zem > 4.4 quasars – I. Measuring the mean free path across cosmic time (2014, background): “These include the most distant quasars (Fan et al. 2006; Mortlock et al. 2011) and z > 8 gammaray bursts ‘revealed’ by their extremely faint optical fluxes (Kawai et al. 2006; Cucchiara et al. 2011; Chornock et al. 2013).”
• PROBING THE DAWN OF GALAXIES AT z ∼ 9–12: NEW CONSTRAINTS FROM HUDF12/XDF AND CANDELS DATA (2013, methodology): “The current record holder of an independently confirmed redshift measurement was achieved at z ∼ 8.2 for GRB090423 (Tanvir et al. 2009; Salvaterra et al. 2009), and GRB redshifts were photometrically measured out to z = 9.4 (Cucchiara et al. 2011).”
• Production of dust by massive stars at high redshift (2011, background): “…8.2 gamma-ray burst host galaxy (Tanvir et al, 2009; Salvaterra et al, 2009), a gal xy reported to be at a spectroscopic redshift ofz = 8.6 (Lehnert et al, 2010), a gamma-ray burst host galaxy atz ∼ 9.4 (Cucchiara et al, 2011), and a galaxy at a photometric redshift of z ∼ 10 (Bouwens et al, 2011).”
• The SEDs and host galaxies of the dustiest GRB afterglows (2011, background): “These optically dark bursts could be caused by either high-redshift (e.g., Greiner et al. 2009; Tanvir et al. 2009; Salvaterra et al. 2009; Cucchiara et al. 2011), large column densities of dust (e.g., Klose et al. 2000, 2003; Tanvir et al. 2008; Perley et al. 2011b) or an intrinsically fainter…”
• On the Evolution of the Hubble Constant with the SNe Ia Pantheon Sample and Baryon Acoustic Oscillations: A Feasibility Study for GRB-Cosmology in 2030 (2022, background): “4, [13]) and surpassed even the quasars (the most distant being at z = 7.”
• A RADIO-SELECTED SAMPLE OF GAMMA-RAY BURST AFTERGLOWS (2011, background): “GRB 090423 is the object with highest confirmed spectroscopic redshift of z = 8.26 (Tanvir et al. 2009; Salvaterra et al. 2009), whereas the highest photometric redshift in our sample (z = 9.4) is for GRB 090429B (Cucchiara et al. 2011).”
• A COMPLETE SAMPLE OF BRIGHT SWIFT LONG GAMMA-RAY BURSTS. I. SAMPLE PRESENTATION, LUMINOSITY FUNCTION AND EVOLUTION (2011, background): “This is consistent with the two detections reported so far, i.e. GRB 090423 at z = 8.2 (Salvaterra et al. 2009; Tanvir et al. 2009) and GRB 090429B at z ∼ 9.4 (Cucchiara et al. 2011).”
• CONNECTING THE GAMMA RAY BURST RATE AND THE COSMIC STAR FORMATION HISTORY: IMPLICATIONS FOR REIONIZATION AND GALAXY EVOLUTION (2011, methodology): “The recent discovery of severalz > 6 long-duration GRBs (Kawai et al. 2006; Greiner et al. 2009; Tanvir et al. 2009; Salvaterra et al. 2009a; Cucchiara et al. 2011) makes this a particularly interesting avenue to explore.”
• A POPULATION OF MASSIVE, LUMINOUS GALAXIES HOSTING HEAVILY DUST-OBSCURED GAMMA-RAY BURSTS: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE USE OF GRBs AS TRACERS OF COSMIC STAR FORMATION (2013, background): “…explosion; Rees & Meszaros 1992; Sari et al. 1998) are extremely luminous, so they are detectable out to high cosmological redshifts (including a few at redshift z > 8; e.g., Tanvir et al. 2009; Salvaterra et al. 2009; Cucchiara et al. 2011) even in short observations with mid-sized telescopes.”