Dissecting the interstellar medium of a z=6.3 galaxy X-shooter spectroscopy and HST imaging of the afterglow and environment of the Swift GRB 210905A

0574445 - ASÚ 2024 RIV FR eng J - Journal Article
Saccardi, A. - Vergani, S. D. - De Cia, A. - Thöne, Christina … Total 38 authors
Dissecting the interstellar medium of a z=6.3 galaxy X-shooter spectroscopy and HST imaging of the afterglow and environment of the Swift GRB 210905A.
Astronomy & Astrophysics. Roč. 671, March (2023), č. článku A84. ISSN 0004-6361. E-ISSN 1432-0746
Institutional support: RVO:67985815
Keywords : gamma-ray burst * galaxies * high-redshift
OECD category: Astronomy (including astrophysics,space science)
Impact factor: 6.5, year: 2022
Method of publishing: Open access

We analyze the VLT /X-shooter afterglow spectrum of GRB210905A, triggered by the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, and detect neutral hydrogen, low-ionization, high-ionization, and fine-structure absorption lines from a complex system at z = 6.3118, which we associate with the GRB host galaxy. We use them to study the ISM properties of the host system, revealing the metallicity, kinematics, and chemical abundance pattern of its gas along the GRB line of sight. We also detect absorption lines from at least two foreground absorbers at z = 5.7390 and z = 2.8296. This study shows the amazing potential of GRBs to access detailed information on the properties (metal enrichment, gas kinematic, dust content, nucleosynthesis...) of very high-redshift galaxies, independently of the galaxy luminosity. Deep spectroscopic observations with VLT/MUSE and JWST will offer the unique possibility of combining the information presented in this paper with the properties of the ionized gas, with the goal of better understanding how galaxies in the reionization era form and evolve.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0345999