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S. T. Holland (USRA & NASA/GSFC/SSC), D. Bersier (STScI), P. M. Garnavich (Notre Dame), K. Z. Stanek (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA)
GRB 030329 was the Rosetta Stone that provided a convincing connection between cosmological gamma-ray bursts and core-collapse supernovae. In addition to demonstrating the supernova link GRB 030329 also exhibited other unusual features, such as a rebrightening after one day and a second jet break at approximately ten days. The optical afterglow also exhibited colour variations between between one and ten days after the burst. These variations may provide information about the physics of the afterglow, and the environment that the burst expanded into. We use the observed colours of the optical afterglow to constrain the extinction in the host galaxy along the line of sight to the burst, and to study the nature of the afterglow during its first few days.
The authors would like to thank the staffs of the MMT, FLWO, Las Campanas, Lick, Keck, and Kitt Peak observatories for providing time to observe the optical afterglow of GRB 030329. The authors would also like to thank Scott Barthelmy and the GRB Coordinates Network for rapidly dissemination information of gamma-ray bursts and Arne Henden for providing photometric calibration of fields containing gamma-ray bursts. STH acknowledges support from NASA/LTSA grant NAG5-9364.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 35#5
© 2003. The American Astronomical Soceity.