1. THE METALLICITY AND DUST CONTENT OF A REDSHIFT 5 GAMMA-RAY BURST HOST GALAXY.
- Author
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Sparre, M., Hartoog, O. E., Krühler, T., Fynbo, J. P. U., Watson, D. J., Wiersema, K., D'Elia, V., Zafar, T., Afonso, P. M. J., Covino, S., Postigo, A. de Ugarte, Flores, H., Goldoni, P., Greiner, J., Hjorth, J., Jakobsson, P., Kaper, L., Klose, S., Levan, A. J., and Malesani, D.
- Subjects
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GAMMA ray bursts , *AFTERGLOW (Physics) , *GALAXIES , *REDSHIFT , *FINE structure (Physics) - Abstract
Observations of the afterglows of long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) allow the study of star-forming galaxies across most of cosmic history. Here we present observations of GRB 111008A, from which we can measure metallicity, chemical abundance patterns, dust-to-metals ratio (DTM), and extinction of the GRB host galaxy at z = 5.0. The host absorption system is a damped Lyα absorber with a very large neutral hydrogen column density of and a metallicity of [S/H] = –1.70 ± 0.10. It is the highest-redshift GRB with such a precise metallicity measurement. The presence of fine-structure lines confirms the z = 5.0 system as the GRB host galaxy and makes this the highest redshift where Fe II fine-structure lines have been detected. The afterglow is mildly reddened with AV = 0.11 ± 0.04 mag, and the host galaxy has a DTM that is consistent with being equal to or lower than typical values in the Local Group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2014
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