Broadband Modelling of GRB 230812B Afterglow: Implications for VHE $\gamma$-ray Detection with IACTs

TL;DR

This study models the broadband afterglow of GRB 230812B, highlighting the potential for VHE gamma-ray detection with IACTs and emphasizing the importance of early multiwavelength follow-up for understanding GRB microphysics.

Contribution

The paper provides detailed modeling of GRB 230812B's afterglow across keV to VHE gamma-rays, demonstrating the feasibility of detecting VHE emission even without precise localization.

Findings

Detection of a 72 GeV photon during early afterglow.

Model predicts optical to high-energy emission up to ~1 day.

Wider field of view of IACTs aids in VHE detection without prompt localization.

Abstract

A significant fraction of the energy from the $\gamma$-ray burst (GRB) jets, after powering the keV-MeV emission, forms an ultra-relativistic shock propagating into the circumburst medium. The particles in the medium accelerate through the shock and produce afterglow emission. Recently, a few GRB afterglows have been observed in TeV $\gamma$-rays by Cherenkov Telescopes. This provides access to broadband spectra of GRB afterglows containing rich information about the microphysics of relativistic shocks and the profile of the circumburst medium. Since the transition from synchrotron to inverse Compton regime in afterglow spectra occurs between hard X-rays and the very-high-energy (VHE) $\gamma$-rays, detection in one of these bands is required to identify the two spectral components. The early afterglow data in the hard X-rays, along with the GeV emission, could accurately constrain the spectral shape and help in capturing the spectral turnover to distinguish the two components. We present the multiwavelength spectral and temporal study, focused on the keV-VHE domain, of GRB 230812B, one of the brightest GRBs detected by Fermi Gamma Ray Burst Monitor (GBM), along with the detection of a 72 GeV photon in Large Area Telescope (LAT) during the early afterglow phase. Through a detailed modelling of the emission within the afterglow external forward shock in a wind-like scenario, we predict optical to high-energy observations up to ~1 day. We emphasize the importance of following up poorly localised GRBs by demonstrating that even without prompt sub-degree localisation, such as in GRB 230812B, it is possible to recover the emission using imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes, thanks to their relatively wider field of view. Moreover, we show that the low energy threshold of Large-Sized Telescope is essential in discovering the VHE component at much higher redshifts, typical of long GRBs.