Authors

T Ahumada, University of Maryland at College ParkFollow
L P. Singer, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
S Anand, California Institute of Technology
M W. Coughlin, University of Minnesota
T Ahumada, California Institute of Technology
G Ryan, University of Maryland at College Park
I Andreoni, California Institute of Technology
S B. Cenko, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
C Fremling, California Institute of Technology
H Kumar, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
P T. Pang, Nikhef
E Burns, Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge
V Cunningham, University of Maryland at College Park
S Dichiara, University of Maryland at College Park
T Dietrich, Universit ¨ at Potsdam
D S. Svinkin, Ioffe Institute
M S. Almualla, American University of Sharjah
A J. Castro-Tirado, Glorieta de la Astronomia
K De, California Institute of Technology
R Dunwoody, University College Dublin
P Gatkine, California Institute of Technology
E Hammerstein, University of Maryland at College Park
S Iyyani, Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics
J Mangan, University College Dublin
E Perley, Liverpool John Moores University
S Purkayastha, Pune University Campus
E Bellm, University of Washington
V Bhalerao, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
B Bolin, California Institute of Technology
M Bulla, KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Stockholm University
C Cannella, Duke University
P Chandra, Pune University Campus
D A. Duev, California Institute of Technology
D Frederiks, Ioffe Institute
A. Gal-Yam, Weizmann Institute of Science
M. Graham, California Institute of Technology
A. Y. Q. Ho, University of California - Berkeley
K. Hurley, University of California - Berkeley
V. Karambelkar, California Institute of Technology
E. C. Kool, Stockholm University
S. R. Kulkarni, California Institute of Technology
A. Mahabal, California Institute of Technology
F. Masci, California Institute of Technology
S. McBreen, University College Dublin, Ireland
S. B. Pandey, Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences
S. Reusch, Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron DESY
A. Ridnaia, Ioffe Institute
P. Rosnet, Universite Clermont Auvergne
B. Rusholme, California Institute of Technology
A. S. Carracedo, Stockholm University
R. Smith, California Institute of Technology
M. Soumagnac, Weizmann Institute of Science
R. Stein, Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron DESY
E. Troja, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
A. Tsvetkova, Ioffe Institute
R. Walters, California Institute of Technology
A. F. Valeev, Russian Academy of Sciences

Author ORCID Identifier

Coughlin, Michael: 0000-0002-8262-2924
Singer, Leo: 0000-0001-9898-5597
Fremling, Christoffer: 0000-0002-4223-103X

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2021

Abstract

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are among the brightest and most energetic events in the Universe. The duration and hardness distribution of GRBs has two clusters(1), now understood to reflect (at least) two different progenitors(2). Short-hard GRBs (SGRBs; T-90 < 2 s) arise from compact binary mergers, and long-soft GRBs (LGRBs; T-90 > 2 s) have been attributed to the collapse of peculiar massive stars (collapsars)(3). The discovery of SN 1998bw/GRB 980425 (ref. (4)) marked the first association of an LGRB with a collapsar, and AT 2017gfo (ref. (5))/GRB 170817A/GW170817 (ref. (6)) marked the first association of an SGRB with a binary neutron star merger, which also produced a gravitational wave. Here, we present the discovery of ZTF20abwysqy (AT2020scz), a fast-fading optical transient in the Fermi satellite and the Interplanetary Network localization regions of GRB 200826A; X-ray and radio emission further confirm that this is the afterglow. Follow-up imaging (at rest-frame 16.5 days) reveals excess emission above the afterglow that cannot be explained as an underlying kilonova, but which is consistent with being the supernova. Although the GRB duration is short (rest-frame T-90 of 0.65 s), our panchromatic follow-up data confirm a collapsar origin. GRB 200826A is the shortest LGRB found with an associated collapsar; it appears to sit on the brink between a successful and a failed collapsar. Our discovery is consistent with the hypothesis that most collapsars fail to produce ultra-relativistic jets.

Publication Source (Journal or Book title)

Nature Astronomy

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