An unusual stellar death on Christmas Day
C. C. Th\"one, A. de Ugarte Postigo, C. L. Fryer, K. L. Page, J., Gorosabel, M. A. Aloy, D. A. Perley, C. Kouveliotou, H. T. Janka, P. Mimica,, J. L. Racusin, H. Krimm, J. Cummings, S. R. Oates, S. T. Holland, M. H., Siegel, M. De Pasquale, E. Sonbas, M. Im, W.-K. Park

TL;DR
This paper reports on the peculiar long-duration gamma-ray burst 101225A, proposing a helium star-neutron star merger as its progenitor, with detailed observations of its thermal and supernova-like emissions, and discusses alternative explanations.
Contribution
It introduces a new interpretation of GRB 101225A as a helium star-neutron star merger with unique thermal emission features, expanding understanding of stellar death mechanisms.
Findings
GRB 101225A had an exceptionally long gamma-ray emission.
Optical emission evolved as an expanding, cooling blackbody.
A faint supernova component was observed emerging after 10 days.
Abstract
Long Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) are the most dramatic examples of massive stellar deaths, usually as- sociated with supernovae (Woosley et al. 2006). They release ultra-relativistic jets producing non-thermal emission through synchrotron radiation as they interact with the surrounding medium (Zhang et al. 2004). Here we report observations of the peculiar GRB 101225A (the "Christmas burst"). Its gamma-ray emission was exceptionally long and followed by a bright X-ray transient with a hot thermal component and an unusual optical counterpart. During the first 10 days, the optical emission evolved as an expanding, cooling blackbody after which an additional component, consistent with a faint supernova, emerged. We determine its distance to 1.6 Gpc by fitting the spectral-energy distribution and light curve of the optical emission with a GRB-supernova template. Deep optical observations may…
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