Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Issue		A&A Volume 439, Number 3, September I 2005
Page(s)		981 - 986
Section		Extragalactic astronomy
DOI		10.1051/0004-6361:20053106

A&A 439, 981-986 (2005)
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20053106

SCUBA sub-millimeter observations of gamma-ray bursts

III. GRB 030329: the brightest sub-millimeter afterglow to date

I. A. Smith¹, R. P. J. Tilanus², N. Tanvir³, R. A. M. J. Wijers⁴, P. Vreeswijk⁵, E. Rol⁶ and C. Kouveliotou^{7, 8}

¹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rice University, 6100 South Main, MS-108, Houston, TX 77005-1892, USA
e-mail: iansmith@rice.edu
² Joint Astronomy Centre, 660 N. Aohoku Place, Hilo, HI 96720, USA
³ Centre for Astrophysics Research, University of Hertfordshire, College Lane, Hatfield, Herts AL10 9AB, UK
⁴ Astronomical Institute "Anton Pannekoek", University of Amsterdam and Center for High-Energy Astrophysics, Kruislaan 403, 1098 SJ Amsterdam, The Netherlands
⁵ European Southern Observatory, Alonso de Córdova 3107, Casilla 19001, Santiago 19, Chile
⁶ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK
⁷ NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, SD-50, NSSTC, 320 Sparkman Drive, Huntsville, AL 35805, USA
⁸ Universities Space Research Association

(Received 21 March 2005 / Accepted 11 May 2005 )

Abstract
We present all the Target of Opportunity (ToO) sub-millimeter observations of GRB 030329 taken by the Sub-millimetre Common-User Bolometer Array (SCUBA) on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT). This was by far the brightest sub-millimeter afterglow seen to date. The flux density at 850 $\mu$ m was approximately constant up to a break that took place $\sim$ 7 days after the burst. This was consistent with being a jet break. The 850 $\mu$ m results agree with those at longer wavelengths that show a brighter flux $\sim$ 7 days after the burst, right at the time of the break. No short-lived large-scale brightenings were detected in the sub-millimeter light curve. However, the 850 $\mu$ m light curve may have had a drop $\la$ 16 days after the burst. The peak of the afterglow emission was at ~90 GHz in the days before the break in the light curve. A simple modeling is consistent with the spectral indices remaining the same as the afterglow evolved, with the breaks in the spectrum moving to longer wavelengths at later times and the flux at the peak falling. No significant sub-millimeter emission was detected from the host galaxy.

Key words: gamma rays: bursts -- submillimeter

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