The first JWST spectrum of a GRB afterglow: No bright supernova in observations of the brightest GRB of all time, GRB 221009A

TL;DR

This study presents the first mid-infrared spectra of a GRB afterglow using JWST, revealing significant dust extinction and no bright supernova, providing insights into the burst's environment and afterglow physics.

Contribution

First mid-IR spectra of a GRB afterglow obtained with JWST, showing dust extinction and constraining supernova brightness and host galaxy properties.

Findings

Spectral slope of ~0.35 with high dust extinction (A_V=4.9)

No bright supernova detected, fainter or bluer than SN 1998bw

Host galaxy is a typical long-GRB host viewed edge-on

Abstract

We present JWST and Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations of the afterglow of GRB 221009A, the brightest gamma-ray burst (GRB) ever observed. This includes the first mid-IR spectra of any GRB, obtained with JWST/NIRSPEC (0.6-5.5 micron) and MIRI (5-12 micron), 12 days after the burst. Assuming that the intrinsic spectral slope is a single power-law, with $F_{\nu} \propto \nu^{-\beta}$, we obtain $\beta \approx 0.35$, modified by substantial dust extinction with $A_V = 4.9$. This suggests extinction above the notional Galactic value, possibly due to patchy extinction within the Milky Way or dust in the GRB host galaxy. It further implies that the X-ray and optical/IR regimes are not on the same segment of the synchrotron spectrum of the afterglow. If the cooling break lies between the X-ray and optical/IR, then the temporal decay rates would only match a post jet-break model, with electron index $p<2$, and with the jet expanding into a uniform ISM medium. The shape of the JWST spectrum is near-identical in the optical/nIR to X-shooter spectroscopy obtained at 0.5 days and to later time observations with HST. The lack of spectral evolution suggests that any accompanying supernova (SN) is either substantially fainter or bluer than SN 1998bw, the proto-type GRB-SN. Our HST observations also reveal a disc-like host galaxy, viewed close to edge-on, that further complicates the isolation of any supernova component. The host galaxy appears rather typical amongst long-GRB hosts and suggests that the extreme properties of GRB 221009A are not directly tied to its galaxy-scale environment.