Probing Cosmic Dust of the Early Universe through High-Redshift Gamma-Ray Bursts

TL;DR

This study investigates the dust extinction properties in the early universe using high-redshift gamma-ray burst afterglows, revealing differences from local extinction laws and evidence of the 2175Å feature at z~6.29.

Contribution

It introduces a model-independent method to analyze dust extinction in distant galaxies and finds the presence of the 2175Å feature at very high redshift.

Findings

Extinction curves differ from Milky Way, SMC, and LMC templates.

2175Å extinction feature detected at z~6.29.

No strong redshift dependence of dust extinction observed.

Abstract

We explore the extinction properties of the dust in the distant universe through the afterglows of high-redshifted GRBs based on the "Drude" model which, unlike previous studies, does not require a prior assumption of template extinction laws. We select GRB070802 at z~2.45 (which shows clear evidence for the 2175\AA extinction bump) and GRB050904 at z~6.29, the 2nd most distant GRB observed to date. We fit their afterglow spectra to determine the extinction of their host galaxies. We find that (1) their extinction curves differ substantially from that of the Milky Way, the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds (which were widely adopted as template extinction laws in literature); (2) the 2175\AA extinction feature appears to be also present in GRB050904 at z~6.29; and (3) there does not appear to show strong evidence for a dependence of dust extinction on redshifts. The inferred extinction curves are closely reproduced in terms of a mixture of amorphous silicate and graphite, both of which are expected supernova condensates and have been identified in primitive meteorites as presolar grains originating from supernovae (which are considered as the main source of dust at high-z).