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Autores principales: Thakur, Aishwarya Linesh, Piro, Luigi, Luminari, Alfredo, Nicastro, Fabrizio, Savaglio, Sandra, Krongold, Yair, Gendre, Bruce
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2026
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Acceso en línea:https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.07919
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author Thakur, Aishwarya Linesh
Piro, Luigi
Luminari, Alfredo
Nicastro, Fabrizio
Savaglio, Sandra
Krongold, Yair
Gendre, Bruce
author_facet Thakur, Aishwarya Linesh
Piro, Luigi
Luminari, Alfredo
Nicastro, Fabrizio
Savaglio, Sandra
Krongold, Yair
Gendre, Bruce
contents The 1-100 pc region embedding long-duration gamma-ray bursts (lGRBs) has been hitherto unexplored, as extremely high ionisation by the GRB prevents application of optical absorption spectroscopy on such distances. We show that the GRB ionising flux imprints a unique time- and spatially-dependent ionisation structure on the gas, that can be probed by X-ray absorption. Application of this model to a selected sample of 7 bright GRB X-ray afterglow spectra observed by \textit{XMM-Newton} EPIC-pn enables an independent, quantitative estimation of the density (log(n) $\sim$ 2-4) and distances (5-100 pc) of the ionized absorber directly from the GRB X-ray spectrum, thereby allowing us to locate the absorbing medium of this representative sample of long GRBs in the region of the density-size diagram populated by star-forming regions versus other gravitationally bound objects in the Universe. Our results provide one of the most direct links between lGRBs and star formation and open the potential of high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy as a powerful probe of star-forming regions that embed GRBs up to the highest redshifts.
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spellingShingle Dense gas linked to star-forming regions photoionised by embedded gamma-ray bursts
Thakur, Aishwarya Linesh
Piro, Luigi
Luminari, Alfredo
Nicastro, Fabrizio
Savaglio, Sandra
Krongold, Yair
Gendre, Bruce
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
The 1-100 pc region embedding long-duration gamma-ray bursts (lGRBs) has been hitherto unexplored, as extremely high ionisation by the GRB prevents application of optical absorption spectroscopy on such distances. We show that the GRB ionising flux imprints a unique time- and spatially-dependent ionisation structure on the gas, that can be probed by X-ray absorption. Application of this model to a selected sample of 7 bright GRB X-ray afterglow spectra observed by \textit{XMM-Newton} EPIC-pn enables an independent, quantitative estimation of the density (log(n) $\sim$ 2-4) and distances (5-100 pc) of the ionized absorber directly from the GRB X-ray spectrum, thereby allowing us to locate the absorbing medium of this representative sample of long GRBs in the region of the density-size diagram populated by star-forming regions versus other gravitationally bound objects in the Universe. Our results provide one of the most direct links between lGRBs and star formation and open the potential of high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy as a powerful probe of star-forming regions that embed GRBs up to the highest redshifts.
title Dense gas linked to star-forming regions photoionised by embedded gamma-ray bursts
topic High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.07919