The Rapid Decay of the Optical Emission from GRB 980326 and Its Possible Implications
Open Access
- 1 August 1998
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Astronomical Society in The Astrophysical Journal
- Vol. 502 (2) , L123-L127
- https://doi.org/10.1086/311509
Abstract
We report the discovery of the optical counterpart to GRB 980326. Its rapid optical decay can be characterized by a power law with exponent -2.10±0.13 and a constant underlying source at R=25.5±0.5. Its optical colors 2.1 days after the burst imply a spectral slope of -0.66±0.70. The γ-ray spectrum as observed with BATSE shows that it is among the 4% softest bursts ever recorded. We argue that the rapid optical decay may be a reason for the nondetection of some low-energy afterglows of GRBs.Keywords
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