12 April 2024 | Peter K. Blanchard, V. Ashley Villar, Ryan Chornock, Tanmoy Laskar, Yijia Li, Joel Leja, Justin Pierel, Edo Berger, Raffaella Margutti, Kate D. Alexander, Jennifer Barnes, Yvette Cendes, Tarraneh Eftekhari, Daniel Kasen, Natalie LeBaron, Brian D. Metzger, James Muzerolle Page, Armin Rest, Huei Sears, Daniel M. Siegel, S. Karthik Yadavalli
The paper presents the detection of a supernova (SN) associated with the brightest gamma-ray burst (GRB) ever observed, GRB 221009A, using observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The SN, identified as a SN1998bw-like event, is well described by a power-law afterglow with no evidence of r-process emission. The SN produced a modest amount of 56Ni (approximately 0.09 solar masses), indicating that it is not an unusually bright GRB-SN. The host galaxy of GRB 221009A is characterized by a very low metallicity of approximately 0.12 solar masses and strong H$_2$ emission, suggesting recent star formation and environmental factors responsible for the extreme energetics of the GRB. The study highlights the need for systematic surveys of late-time IR spectra of LGRB supernovae to better understand the role of r-process nucleosynthesis in GRB progenitors.The paper presents the detection of a supernova (SN) associated with the brightest gamma-ray burst (GRB) ever observed, GRB 221009A, using observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The SN, identified as a SN1998bw-like event, is well described by a power-law afterglow with no evidence of r-process emission. The SN produced a modest amount of 56Ni (approximately 0.09 solar masses), indicating that it is not an unusually bright GRB-SN. The host galaxy of GRB 221009A is characterized by a very low metallicity of approximately 0.12 solar masses and strong H$_2$ emission, suggesting recent star formation and environmental factors responsible for the extreme energetics of the GRB. The study highlights the need for systematic surveys of late-time IR spectra of LGRB supernovae to better understand the role of r-process nucleosynthesis in GRB progenitors.