Demographics of the Galaxies Hosting Short-duration Gamma-Ray Bursts

TL;DR

This study analyzes the host galaxies of short-duration gamma-ray bursts, revealing diverse galaxy types and providing statistical estimates of their demographic distribution, which informs models of their origins.

Contribution

It offers the first comprehensive demographic analysis of short GRB host galaxies, combining detailed case studies with a probabilistic classification of a larger sample.

Findings

Short GRBs occur in both early- and late-type galaxies.

Approximately 60-80% of short GRBs are in late-type galaxies.

The demographic distribution suggests a rate influenced by stellar mass and star formation.

Abstract

We present observations of the afterglows and host galaxies of three short-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs): 100625A, 101219A and 110112A. We find that GRB 100625A occurred in a z=0.452 early-type galaxy with a stellar mass of 4.6e9 M_Sun and a stellar population age of 0.7 Gyr, and GRB 101219A originated in a star-forming galaxy at z=0.718 with a stellar mass of 1.4e9 M_Sun, a star formation rate of 16 M_Sun yr^-1, and a stellar population age of 50 Myr. We also report the discovery of the optical afterglow of GRB 110112A, which lacks a coincident host galaxy to i>26 mag and we cannot conclusively identify any field galaxy as a possible host. The bursts have inferred circumburst densities of ~1e-4-1 cm^-3, and isotropic-equivalent gamma-ray and kinetic energies of 1e50-1e51 erg. These events highlight the diversity of galaxies that host short GRBs. To quantify this diversity, we use the sample of 36 Swift short GRBs with robust associations to an environment (~1/2 of 68 short bursts detected by Swift to May 2012) and classify them as follows: late-type (50%), early-type (15%), inconclusive (20%), and host-less (lacking a coincident host galaxy to limits of >26 mag; 15%). To find likely ranges for the true late- and early-type fractions, we assign each of the host-less bursts to the late- or early-type category using probabilistic arguments, and consider the scenario that all hosts in the inconclusive category are early-type galaxies to set an upper bound on the early-type fraction. The most likely ranges for the late- and early-type fractions are ~60-80% and ~20-40%, respectively. We find no clear trend between gamma-ray duration and host type, and no change to the fractions when excluding events recently claimed as possible contaminants from the long GRB/collapsar population. Our reported demographics are consistent with a short GRB rate driven by both stellar mass and star formation.