[Previous] | [Session 63] | [Next]
S. Holland (Aarhus Universitet & University of Notre Dame), J. Hjorth (University of Copenhagen), J. U. Fynbo (ESO), J. Gorosabel (Danish Space Research Institute), H. Pedersen (University of Copenhagen), A. Dar (Technion), M. I. Andersen (University of Oulu)
We present deep HST\//STIS and ground-based images of the host galaxy of the gamma-ray burst GRB~980703. We find that the host galaxy is slightly sub-luminous with LB \approx 0.6 L\astB in the rest frame. The host has a mean ellipticity of \overline{\epsilon} = 0.16 ±0.01 and there is no evidence for substructure. The surface brightness profile is best fit by a r1/n law with n = 1.2 ±0.1, but we can not rule out an exponential disc profile. The galaxy has V\!-\!R = 0.43 ±0.13 and there is evidence that the centre of the galaxy is bluer than the outer regions are. The late-time R- and I-band light curves show weak evidence for an excess flux above what is predicted by either a single power law or a broken power law decline. The excess flux is consistent with GRB~980703 being associated with a Type Ic supernova similar to GRB~980425/SN1998bw. However, we are not able to rule out dust echos as the source of this excess flux.
This work was supported by the Danish Natural Science Research Council (SNF) through the Danish Centre for Astrophysics with the HST.
If you would like more information about this abstract, please follow the link to http//www.nd.edu/~sholland/index.html. This link was provided by the author. When you follow it, you will leave the Web site for this meeting; to return, you should use the Back comand on your browser.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: sholland@nd.edu