| Issue |
A&A
Volume 572, December 2014
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Article Number | A47 | |
| Number of page(s) | 12 | |
| Section | Extragalactic astronomy | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201423865 | |
| Published online | 27 November 2014 | |
A quiescent galaxy at the position of the long GRB 050219A⋆,⋆⋆
1 INAF-IASF Bologna, Area della Ricerca CNR, via Gobetti 101, 40129 Bologna, Italy
e-mail: a.rossi@iasfbo.inaf.it
2 Thüringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg, Sternwarte 5, 07778 Tautenburg, Germany
3 INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, via di Frascati 33, 00040 Monte Porzio Catone, Italy
4 Max-Planck-Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik, Giessenbachstraße 1, 85748 Garching, Germany
5 Dipartimento di Fisica, Universitá della Calabria, 87036 Arcavacata di Rende, Italy
6 European Southern Observatory, 85748 Garching, Germany
7 SUPA, Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, EH9 3HJ, UK
8 INAF-Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Largo Fermi 5, 50125 Firenze, Italy
9 Department of Physics and Earth Sciences, University of Ferrara, via Saragat 1, 44122 Ferrara, Italy
10 Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, University of Ljubljana, Jadranska ulica 19, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
11 Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, LAM (Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille) UMR 7326, 13388 Marseille, France
12 Instituto de Astrofísica, Pontificia Universidad Católica, Av. Vicuña Mackenna, 4860 Santiago, Chile
13 Millennium Institute of Astrophysics (MAS), Santiago, Chile
14 GEPI, Observatoire de Paris, CNRS, Univ. Paris Diderot, 5 place Jules Jannsen, 92195 Meudon, France
15 INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, via E. Bianchi 46, 23807 Merate (LC), Italy
16 University of Rochester, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester, NY 14627, USA
17 ASI, Science Data Centre, via del Politecnico snc, 00133 Roma, Italy
18 Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA-CSIC), Glorieta de la Astronomía s/n, 1008, Granada, Spain
19 Institute of Experimental and Applied Physics, Czech Technical University in Prague, Horska 3a/22, 12800 Prague, Czech Republic
20 APC, Univ. Paris Diderot, CNRS/IN2P3, CEA/Irfu, Obs. de Paris, Sorbonne Paris Cité, 75205 Paris Cedex 13, France
21 Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road CB3 0HA, Cambridge, UK
22 Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, UMR 7095, CNRS, UPMC Univ. Paris 06, 98bis boulevard Arago, 75014 Paris, France
23 Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa – Piazza dei Cavalieri 7, 56126 Pisa, Italy
24 Università degli Studi di Urbino “Carlo Bo”, Piazza della Repubblica 13, 61029 Urbino, Italy
Received: 21 March 2014
Accepted: 28 August 2014
Context. Long-duration gamma-ray bursts (LGRBs) are produced by the collapse of very massive stars. Because of the short life time of their progenitors, LGRBs pinpoint star-forming galaxies. Recent studies demonstrate that LGRBs populate all types of star-forming galaxies from sub-luminous, blue compact dwarfs to luminous infrared galaxies.
Aims. We present here a multi-band search for the host galaxy of the long dark GRB 050219A within the enhanced Swift/XRT error circle. We aim to characterise the properties of its host galaxy and compare them with those of other LGRB host galaxies.
Methods. We used spectroscopic observations acquired with VLT/X-Shooter to determine the redshift and star-formation rate of the most probable host galaxy identified on the basis of a chance probability criterion. We compared the results with the optical and infrared spectral energy distribution obtained with Swift/UVOT, the seven-channel imager GROND at the 2.2-m telescope on La Silla and the Herschel Space Observatory, supplemented by archival observations obtained with FORS2 at the ESO/VLT, the Spitzer Space Telescope, and the GALEX survey.
Results. The most probable host galaxy of the genuine long-duration GRB 050219A is a 3 Gyr-old early-type galaxy at z = 0.211. It is characterised by a ratio of star-formation rate to stellar mass (specific star-formation rate) of ~ 6 × 10-12 yr-1 that is unprecedentedly low when compared to all known LGRB host galaxies. Its properties resemble those of post-starburst galaxies.
Conclusions. GRB 050219A might be the first known long burst to explode in a quiescent early-type galaxy. This would be further evidence that GRBs can explode in all kinds of galaxies, with the only requirement being an episode of high-mass star formation.
Key words: gamma-ray burst: individual: GRB 050219A
Based on observations collected with GROND at the 2.2 m telescope of the La Silla Observatory, Chile (PI: Greiner), at the Very Large Telescope of the European Southern Observatory, Paranal, Chile (089.A-0843, PI: Piranomonte), and with the ESA space observatory Herschel (PI: Hunt).
Appendices are available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org
© ESO, 2014
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