MAGIC observations of the nearby short gamma-ray burst GRB 160821B
MAGIC Collaboration: V. A. Acciari (1), S. Ansoldi (2), L. A., Antonelli (3), A. Arbet Engels (4), K. Asano (5), D. Baack (6), A. Babi\'c, (7), A. Baquero (8), U. Barres de Almeida (9), J. A. Barrio (8), J. Becerra, Gonz\'alez (1), W. Bednarek (10), L. Bellizzi (11)

TL;DR
This paper reports the detection of potential TeV gamma-ray emission from the short GRB 160821B using MAGIC telescopes, providing new insights into high-energy processes in neutron star mergers.
Contribution
First detection of TeV gamma-ray signal from a nearby short GRB, offering new constraints on emission mechanisms in BNS mergers.
Findings
Evidence of >0.5 TeV gamma-ray excess at ~3σ significance
Challenges in explaining the TeV flux with simple synchrotron-self-Compton models
Discussion of alternative scenarios for TeV emission enhancement
Abstract
The coincident detection of GW170817 in gravitational waves and electromagnetic radiation spanning the radio to MeV gamma-ray bands provided the first direct evidence that short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) can originate from binary neutron star (BNS) mergers. On the other hand, the properties of short GRBs in high-energy gamma rays are still poorly constrained, with only 20 events detected in the GeV band, and none in the TeV band. GRB~160821B is one of the nearest short GRBs known at . Recent analyses of the multiwavelength observational data of its afterglow emission revealed an optical-infrared kilonova component, characteristic of heavy-element nucleosynthesis in a BNS merger. Aiming to better clarify the nature of short GRBs, this burst was automatically followed up with the MAGIC telescopes, starting from 24 seconds after the burst trigger. Evidence of a gamma-ray…
Peer Reviews
No public reviews on file for this paper yet. If you reviewed it on a platform where reviews are public (OpenReview, ICLR, NeurIPS, ICML), you can paste yours below so the community can read it here.
Videos
No videos yet. Explain this paper in a talk, walkthrough, or lecture? Add one.
