Short GRB Host Galaxies I: Photometric and Spectroscopic Catalogs, Host Associations, and Galactocentric Offsets

Abstract

We present a comprehensive optical and near-infrared census of the fields of 90 short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) discovered in 2005-2021, constituting all short GRBs for which host galaxy associations are feasible ($\approx$ 60% of the total Swift short GRB population). We contribute 245 new multi-band imaging observations across 49 distinct GRBs and 25 spectra of their host galaxies. Supplemented by literature and archival survey data, the catalog contains 335 photometric and 40 spectroscopic data sets. The photometric catalog reaches $3\sigma$ depths of $\gtrsim 24-27$ mag and $\gtrsim 23-26$ mag for the optical and near-infrared bands, respectively. We identify host galaxies for 84 bursts, in which the most robust associations make up 54% (49/90) of events, while only a small fraction, 6.7%, have inconclusive host associations. Based on new spectroscopy, we determine 17 host spectroscopic redshifts with a range of $z\approx 0.15-1.6$ and find that $\approx$ 25-44% of Swift short GRBs originate from $z>1$. We also present the galactocentric offset catalog for 83 short GRBs. Taking into account the large range of individual measurement uncertainties, we find a median of projected offset of $\approx 7.9$ kpc, for which the bursts with the most robust associations have a smaller median of $\approx 4.9$ kpc. Our catalog captures more high-redshift and low-luminosity hosts, and more highly-offset bursts than previously found, thereby diversifying the population of known short GRB hosts and properties. In terms of locations and host luminosities, the populations of short GRBs with and without detectable extended emission are statistically indistinguishable. This suggests that they arise from the same progenitors, or from multiple progenitors which form and evolve in similar environments. All of the data products are available on the BRIGHT website.

53 pages, 9 figures, 6 tables, submitted

References in corpus (40)

• GW170817: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Neutron Star Inspiral
• Gravitational Waves and Gamma-rays from a Binary Neutron Star Merger: GW170817 and GRB 170817A
• An Ordinary Short Gamma-Ray Burst with Extraordinary Implications: Fermi-GBM Detection of GRB 170817A
• INTEGRAL Detection of the First Prompt Gamma-Ray Signal Coincident with the Gravitational Wave Event GW170817
• The Hubble Ultra Deep Field
• Long gamma-ray bursts and core-collapse supernovae have different environments
• Formation of Double Neutron Star Systems
• Rates and properties of type Ia supernovae as a function of mass and star-formation in their host galaxies
• The WFCAM Science Archive
• No supernovae associated with two long-duration gamma ray bursts
• Discerning the physical origins of cosmological Gamma-ray bursts based on multiple observational criteria: the cases of z=6.7 GRB 080913, z=8.3 GRB 090423, and some short/hard GRBs
• The 1% Concordance Hubble Constant
• An enigmatic long-lasting gamma-ray burst not accompanied by a bright supernova
• The Galaxy Population Hosting Gamma-Ray Bursts
• The rate, luminosity function and time delay of non-Collapsar short GRBs
• The optically unbiased GRB host (TOUGH) survey. I. Survey design and catalogs
• Long Gamma-Ray Bursts and Type Ic Core Collapse Supernovae Have Similar Locations in Hosts
• The optical afterglow of GW170817 at one year post-merger
• On the Rate of Neutron Star Binary Mergers from Globular Clusters
• The Electromagnetic Counterpart of the Binary Neutron Star Merger LIGO/VIRGO GW170817. VII. Properties of the Host Galaxy and Constraints on the Merger Timescale
• The Host Galaxies of Short-Duration Gamma-Ray Bursts: Luminosities, Metallicities, and Star Formation Rates
• Different progenitors of short hard gamma-ray bursts
• The Electromagnetic Counterpart of the Binary Neutron Star Merger LIGO/VIRGO GW170817. VIII. A Comparison to Cosmological Short-duration Gamma-ray Bursts
• Zooming In on the Progenitors of Superluminous Supernovae With the HST
• Accurate early positions for Swift GRBS: enhancing X-ray positions with UVOT astrometry
• Discovery of the afterglow and host galaxy of the low redshift short GRB 080905A
• The optical afterglows and host galaxies of three short/hard gamma-ray bursts
• The Afterglow and Early-Type Host Galaxy of the Short GRB 150101B at z=0.1343
• A Putative Early-Type Host Galaxy for GRB 060502B: Implications for the Progenitors of Short-Duration Hard-Spectrum Bursts
• The connection between globular cluster systems and their host galaxy and environment: a case study of the isolated elliptical NGC 821
• A deep survey of short GRB host galaxies over $z\sim 0-2$: implications for offsets, redshifts, and environments
• Constraints on Natal Kicks in Galactic Double Neutron Star Systems
• Infrared emission from kilonovae: the case of the nearby short hard burst GRB 160821B
• An Unambiguous Separation of Gamma-Ray Bursts into Two Classes from Prompt Emission Alone
• A tale of two mergers: constraints on kilonova detection in two short GRBs at z$\sim$0.5
• A long optical plateau in the afterglow of the Extended Emission short GRB 150424A: Evidence for energy injection by a magnetar?
• Discovery of the optical afterglow and host galaxy of short GRB181123B at $z=1.754$: Implications for Delay Time Distributions
• The First Short GRB Millimeter Afterglow: The Wide-Angled Jet of the Extremely Energetic SGRB 211106A
• Constraints on an optical afterglow and on supernova light following the short burst GRB 050813
• The radial distribution of supernovae compared to star formation tracers

Cited by in corpus (49)

• A Kilonova Following a Long-Duration Gamma-Ray Burst at 350 Mpc
• JWST detection of heavy neutron capture elements in a compact object merger
• The case for a minute-long merger-driven gamma-ray burst from fast-cooling synchrotron emission
• The Science of the Einstein Telescope
• Short GRB Host Galaxies. II. A Legacy Sample of Redshifts, Stellar Population Properties, and Implications for their Neutron Star Merger Origins
• GRB minimum variability timescale with Insight-HXMT and Swift: implications for progenitor models, dissipation physics and GRB classifications
• The first JWST spectrum of a GRB afterglow: No bright supernova in observations of the brightest GRB of all time, GRB 221009A
• Extragalactic FXT Candidates Discovered by Chandra (2014-2022)
• The short gamma-ray burst population in a quasi-universal jet scenario
• A search for the afterglows, kilonovae, and host galaxies of two short GRBs: GRB 211106A and GRB 211227A
• Inferring host-galaxy properties of LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA's black holes
• Identification of Extended Emission Gamma-Ray-Bursts Candidates using Machine Learning
• The Fast X-ray Transient XRT 210423 and its Host Galaxy
• Binary neutron star mergers as the source of the highest energy cosmic rays
• GRB 201015A and the nature of low-luminosity soft gamma-ray bursts
• Evidence for a compact stellar merger origin for GRB 230307A from Fermi-LAT and multi-wavelength afterglow observations
• Kinematic constraints on the ages and kick velocities of Galactic neutron star binaries
• The puzzling long GRB 191019A: Evidence for Kilonova Light
• New JWST redshifts for the host galaxies of CDF-S XT1 and XT2: understanding their nature
• The Environments of Fast Radio Bursts Viewed Using Adaptive Optics
• Multi-Peaked Non-Thermal Light Curves from Magnetar-Powered Gamma-Ray Bursts
• SAGUARO: Time-domain Infrastructure for the Fourth Gravitational-wave Observing Run and Beyond
• Constraining Near-Simultaneous Radio Emission from Short Gamma-ray Bursts using CHIME/FRB
• Incidence of afterglow plateaus in gamma-ray bursts associated with binary neutron star mergers
• Tight bound on neutron-star radius with quasiperiodic oscillations in short gamma-ray bursts
• Exploring Gamma-Ray Burst Diversity: Clustering analysis of emission characteristics of Fermi and BATSE detected GRBs
• Natal kicks of compact objects
• Optical darkness in short-duration $\gamma$-ray bursts
• Where has all the $r$-process gone? Timescales for GRB-Kilonovae to Enrich their Host Galaxies
• GRB 241105A: A test case for GRB classification and rapid r-process nucleosynthesis channels
• Searching for Radio Transients with Inverted Spectra in Epoch 1 of VLASS and VCSS, and Identification of a Sample of Candidate Relativistic Nuclear Transients
• Comparison of the Origin of Short Gamma-Ray Bursts with or without Extended Emission
• Redshifts of candidate host galaxies of four fast X-ray transients using VLT/MUSE
• The origin of the coherent radio flash potentially associated with GRB 201006A
• Characterising EP241107a: Multiwavelength Observations of an Einstein Probe-detected Fast X-ray Transient
• Constraints on fast radio burst emission in the aftermath of gamma-ray bursts
• Unveiling the nature of the Einstein Probe transient EP 241021a
• Binary neutron star merger offsets from their host galaxies II. Short-duration gamma-ray bursts
• Evolutionary tracks of binary neutron star progenitors across cosmic times
• A long-duration gamma-ray burst of dynamical origin from the nucleus of an ancient galaxy
• Chemical Evolution and Kilonova Implications of Post-Merger Accretion Disk Winds
• Finding LoTSS of hosts for GRBs: a search for galaxy - gamma-ray burst coincidences at low frequencies with LOFAR
• Kilonova and progenitor properties of merger-driven gamma-ray bursts
• Illuminating the Mass Gap Through Deep Optical Constraint on a Neutron Star Merger Candidate S250206dm
• Gamma-ray bursts at extremely small fluence
• Peak energy--Isotropic Luminosity Correlation and Jet Opening Angle Evolution in Swift-BAT Short GRBs with Soft Tail Emission
• GOTO identification and broadband modelling of the counterpart to the SVOM GRB 250818B
• On the hosts of neutron star mergers in the nearby Universe
• Implications of low neutron star merger rates for gamma-ray bursts, r-process production and Galactic double neutron stars