Induced gravitational collapse at extreme cosmological distances: the case of GRB 090423

¹ Dip. di Fisica and ICRA, Sapienza Università di Roma, P.le Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
e-mail: Ruffini@icra.it
² ICRANet, Piazza della Repubblica 10, 65122 Pescara, Italy
³ Université de Nice-Sophia Antipolis, Cedex 2, Grand Château Parc Valrose, Nice, France
⁴ ICRANet-Rio, Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Fisicas, Rua Dr. Xavier Sigaud 150, 22290-180 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
⁵ INAF-Napoli, Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, Salita Moiariello 16, 80131 Napoli, Italy

Received: 17 January 2014
Accepted: 25 May 2014

Abstract

Context. The induced gravitational collapse (IGC) scenario has been introduced in order to explain the most energetic gamma ray bursts (GRBs), E_iso = 10⁵²−10⁵⁴ erg, associated with type Ib/c supernovae (SNe). It has led to the concept of binary-driven hypernovae (BdHNe) originating in a tight binary system composed by a FeCO core on the verge of a SN explosion and a companion neutron star (NS). Their evolution is characterized by a rapid sequence of events: 1) the SN explodes, giving birth to a new NS (νNS). The accretion of SN ejecta onto the companion NS increases its mass up to the critical value; 2) the consequent gravitational collapse is triggered, leading to the formation of a black hole (BH) with GRB emission; 3) a novel feature responsible for the emission in the GeV, X-ray, and optical energy range occurs and is characterized by specific power-law behavior in their luminosity evolution and total spectrum; 4) the optical observations of the SN then occurs.

Aims. We investigate whether GRB 090423, one of the farthest observed GRB at z = 8.2, is a member of the BdHN family.

Methods. We compare and contrast the spectra, the luminosity evolution, and the detectability in the observations by Swift of GRB 090423 with the corresponding ones of the best known BdHN case, GRB 090618.

Results. Identification of constant slope power-law behavior in the late X-ray emission of GRB 090423 and its overlapping with the corresponding one in GRB 090618, measured in a common rest frame, represents the main result of this article. This result represents a very significant step on the way to using the scaling law properties, proven in Episode 3 of this BdHN family, as a cosmological standard candle.

Conclusions. Having identified GRB 090423 as a member of the BdHN family, we can conclude that SN events, leading to NS formation, can already occur, namely at 650 Myr after the Big Bang. It is then possible that these BdHNe stem from 40−60  M_⊙ binaries. They are probing the Population II stars after the completion and possible disappearance of Population III stars.