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| Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Formato: | Preprint |
| Publicado: |
2026
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.02032 |
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| _version_ | 1866916074074669056 |
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| author | Mao, Yuhan He, Hanrui Ren, Jia Wang, Yun Zhou, Hao Wang, Qiuli Zhu, Yiming Jin, Zhiping Wei, Daming |
| author_facet | Mao, Yuhan He, Hanrui Ren, Jia Wang, Yun Zhou, Hao Wang, Qiuli Zhu, Yiming Jin, Zhiping Wei, Daming |
| contents | Using deep near-infrared and optical images from JWST and HST, we identify a new host galaxy candidate for GRB 061201. It lies ~2" from the optical afterglow position. Photometric redshift fitting yields z~1.2. We compare the previously proposed host at z=0.111 with the new candidate. The chance-coincidence probability is $P_{cc}=0.18$, above the classical threshold of 0.1 but consistent with a physical association given the extreme depth of JWST imaging. In contrast, evaluated with corresponding JWST observations, the previously claimed host has a lower $P_{cc}=0.11$, which is driven primarily by bright-tail statistics rather than a more plausible association. A high-z origin is favored by three independent lines of evidence. First, for the z=0.111 scenario, the beaming-corrected energy shows GRB 061201 is an outlier of the Ghirlanda ($E_{p,i}-E_γ$) relation for short GRBs, while for the z=1.2 scenario, it is well consistent with the Amati relation. Second, deep near-infrared observations rule out a kilonova similar to AT2017gfo at z=0.111. Third, afterglow modeling yields an AIC criterion of $Δ$AIC=16.35, providing strong evidence for the high-redshift scenario. Assuming the host candidate is the actual host galaxy of GRB 061201, the physical offset is 16.4-16.9 kpc (substantially reduced from ~42 kpc) and the host stellar age is ~2 Gyr, which are consistent with the host population of short GRBs. A low-redshift origin would lead to a very high binary neutron star merger rate of ~1400 Gpc$^{-3}$ yr$^{-1}$, which is contradictory to the gravitational-wave constraint. We suggest that GRB 061201 originates from a moderately high-redshift (z~1.2) host, significantly alleviating this apparent merger rate discrepancy. This case demonstrates the power of deep JWST exposures in revealing the host galaxies of historically hostless GRBs. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2606_02032 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Revealing the high redshift host galaxy of the short GRB 061201 with JWST Mao, Yuhan He, Hanrui Ren, Jia Wang, Yun Zhou, Hao Wang, Qiuli Zhu, Yiming Jin, Zhiping Wei, Daming High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena Using deep near-infrared and optical images from JWST and HST, we identify a new host galaxy candidate for GRB 061201. It lies ~2" from the optical afterglow position. Photometric redshift fitting yields z~1.2. We compare the previously proposed host at z=0.111 with the new candidate. The chance-coincidence probability is $P_{cc}=0.18$, above the classical threshold of 0.1 but consistent with a physical association given the extreme depth of JWST imaging. In contrast, evaluated with corresponding JWST observations, the previously claimed host has a lower $P_{cc}=0.11$, which is driven primarily by bright-tail statistics rather than a more plausible association. A high-z origin is favored by three independent lines of evidence. First, for the z=0.111 scenario, the beaming-corrected energy shows GRB 061201 is an outlier of the Ghirlanda ($E_{p,i}-E_γ$) relation for short GRBs, while for the z=1.2 scenario, it is well consistent with the Amati relation. Second, deep near-infrared observations rule out a kilonova similar to AT2017gfo at z=0.111. Third, afterglow modeling yields an AIC criterion of $Δ$AIC=16.35, providing strong evidence for the high-redshift scenario. Assuming the host candidate is the actual host galaxy of GRB 061201, the physical offset is 16.4-16.9 kpc (substantially reduced from ~42 kpc) and the host stellar age is ~2 Gyr, which are consistent with the host population of short GRBs. A low-redshift origin would lead to a very high binary neutron star merger rate of ~1400 Gpc$^{-3}$ yr$^{-1}$, which is contradictory to the gravitational-wave constraint. We suggest that GRB 061201 originates from a moderately high-redshift (z~1.2) host, significantly alleviating this apparent merger rate discrepancy. This case demonstrates the power of deep JWST exposures in revealing the host galaxies of historically hostless GRBs. |
| title | Revealing the high redshift host galaxy of the short GRB 061201 with JWST |
| topic | High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.02032 |