Radio limits on off-axis GRB afterglows and VLBI observations of SN 2003gk

Abstract

We report on a VLA survey for late-time radio emission from 59 supernovae (SNe) of Type I b/c, which have been associated with long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). An "off-axis" GRB burst (i.e. whose relativistic jet points away from us) is expected to have late-time radio emission even in the absence of significant prompt gamma-ray emission. From our sample, we detected only SN 2003gk with an 8.4-GHz flux density of $2260\pm 130\mu$Jy. Our subsequent VLBI observations of SN 2003gk, at an age of $\sim$8 yr, allowed us to determine its radius to be $(2.4\pm 0.4)\times 10^{17}$ cm, or $94\pm 15$ light days. This radius rules out relativistic expansion as expected for an off-axis GRB jet, and instead suggests an expansion speed of $\sim 10000$ km s${}^{-1}$ typical for non-relativistic core-collapse supernovae. We attribute the late-onset radio emission to interaction of the ejecta with a dense shell caused by episodic mass-loss from the progenitor. In addition, we present new calculations for the expected radio lightcurves from GRB jets at various angles to the line of sight, and compare these to our observed limits on the flux densities of the remainder of our SN sample. From this comparison we can say that only a fraction of broadlined Type I b/c SNe have a radio-bright jet similar to those seen for GRB afterglows at cosmological distances. However, we also find that for a reasonable range of parameters, as might be representative of the actual population of GRB events rather than the detected bright ones, the radio emission from the GRB jets can be quite faint, and that at present, radio observations do not place strong constraints on off-axis GRB jets.

12 Pages, 6 figures; accepted for publication in MNRAS

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