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Issue A&A
Volume 455, Number 3, September I 2006
Page(s) 803 - 812
Section Extragalactic astronomy
DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20053903



A&A 455, 803-812 (2006)
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20053903

X-ray continuum properties of GRB afterglows observed by XMM-Newton and Chandra

B. Gendre1, A. Corsi1, 2, 3 and L. Piro1

1  IASF/INAF Rome, via fosso del cavaliere 100, 00133 Roma, Italy
    e-mail: [bruce.gendre;alessandra.corsi;luigi.piro]@rm.iasf.cnr.it
2  INFN - Sezione di Roma c/o Dipartimento di Fisica - Universitá degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza" Piazzale A. Moro 5, 00185 Roma, Italy
3  Universitá degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", Piazzale A. Moro 5, 00185 Roma, Italy



(Received 25 July 2005 / Accepted 10 November 2005 )

Abstract
We present a catalog of XMM-Newton and Chandra observations of gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglows, reduced in a common way using the most up-to-date calibration files and software. We focus on the continuum properties of the afterglows. We derive the spectral and temporal decay indices for 16 bursts. We place constraints on the burst environment and geometry. A comparison of the fast XMM-Newton follow-up and the late Chandra observations shows a significant difference in those parameters, likely produced by a transition from jet expansion taking place between two and ten days after the burst. We do not observe a significant shrinking of the luminosity distribution when we correct for beaming; more burst observations are needed to confirm this result. We also compare our results with those obtained by BeppoSAX and SWIFT; there is no strong discrepancy between the afterglow fluxes observed with these satellites when we carefully take into account the different median observation time of each observatory.


Key words: X-rays: general -- gamma rays: bursts -- catalogs




© ESO 2006


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