A possible macronova in the late afterglow of the long-short burst GRB 060614

Journal
Date Issued
2015
Author(s)
Yang, Bin
•
Jin, Zhi-Ping
•
Li, Xiang
•
•
Zheng, Xian-Zhong
•
Hotokezaka, Kenta
•
Fan, Yi-Zhong
•
Piran, Tsvi
•
Wei, Da-Ming
DOI
Abstract
Long-duration (>2 s) γ-ray bursts that are believed to originate from the death of massive stars are expected to be accompanied by supernovae. GRB 060614, that lasted 102 s, lacks a supernova-like emission down to very stringent limits and its physical origin is still debated. Here we report the discovery of near-infrared bump that is significantly above the regular decaying afterglow. This red bump is inconsistent with even the weakest known supernova. However, it can arise from a Li-Paczyński macronova--the radioactive decay of debris following a compact binary merger. If this interpretation is correct, GRB 060614 arose from a compact binary merger rather than from the death of a massive star and it was a site of a significant production of heavy r-process elements. The significant ejected mass favours a black hole-neutron star merger but a double neutron star merger cannot be ruled out.

Volume
6
Start page
7323
Uri
Url
Issn Identifier
2041-1723
Ads BibCode
2015NatCo...6.7323Y
Rights
open.access
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