GRB 110715A: The peculiar multiwavelength evolution of the first afterglow detected by ALMA

Abstract

We present the extensive follow-up campaign on the afterglowof GRB 110715A at 17 different wavelengths, from X-ray to radio bands, starting 81 s after the burst and extending up to 74 d later.We performed for the first time aGRBafterglowobservationwith theALMAobservatory. We find that the afterglow of GRB 110715A is very bright at optical and radio wavelengths. We use the optical and near-infrared spectroscopy to provide further information about the progenitor's environment and its host galaxy. The spectrum shows weak absorption features at a redshift z = 0.8225, which reveal a host-galaxy environment with low ionization, column density, and dynamical activity. Late deep imaging shows a very faint galaxy, consistent with the spectroscopic results. The broad-band afterglow emission is modelled with synchrotron radiation using a numerical algorithm and we determine the best-fitting parameters using Bayesian inference in order to constrain the physical parameters of the jet and the medium in which the relativistic shock propagates. We fitted our data with a variety of models, including different density profiles and energy injections. Although the general behaviour can be roughly described by thesemodels, none of them are able to fully explain all data points simultaneously. GRB 110715A shows the complexity of reproducing extensive multiwavelength broad-band afterglow observations, and the need of good sampling in wavelength and time and more complex models to accurately constrain the physics of GRB afterglows. © 2016 The Authors. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.