# A Coordinated Radio Afterglow Program

## Introduction

BeppoSAX revolutionized gamma-ray burst (GRB) astronomy not only through its discovery of X-ray afterglows but also through the dissemination of accurate and timely GRB positions to ground-based observers, who then conduct searches of afterglows at optical and radio wavelengths. Our collaboration uses the interferometer facilities of the Very Large Array (VLA), the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA), the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) and the Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO) Interferometer. At high frequencies, we use single dish telescopes which include the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) and the OVRO 40-m Telescope. All afterglow searches begin with the VLA in the northern hemisphere (dec.$`>45^{}`$, $`\sigma _{\mathrm{rms}}=45`$ $`\mu `$Jy in 10 min., FOV$`5^{}`$) and the ATCA in the southern hemisphere (dec.$`<45^{}`$, $`\sigma _{\mathrm{rms}}=45`$ $`\mu `$Jy in 240 min., FOV$`5^{}`$), typically at a frequency of 8.5 GHz, which provides a balance between sensitivity and field-of-view. Follow-up programs at the other radio facilities are begun after a VLA or ATCA transient is discovered.

As with quasars, radio observations provide unique diagnostics complementary to those obtained at X-ray and optical wavelengths. Our collaboration has discovered all known radio afterglows to date, leading to a number of important results: the direct demonstration of relativistic expansion of the ejecta (Frail et al. 1997a), evidence for a reverse shock (Kulkarni et al. 1999), the first true calorimetry of a GRB explosion (Frail, Waxman & Kulkarni 1999), the discovery of optically obscured events (Taylor et al. 1998), the first unambiguous evidence that the ejecta are collimated in jets (Harrison et al. 1999), and the discovery of a possible link between supernovae and GRBs (Kulkarni et al. 1998).

## Radio Afterglow Statistics

Since 1997 we have observed 19 GRBs with the VLA and detected a total of eight radio afterglows (see Figure 1, Tables 1 and 2). The peak fluxes (F<sub>peak</sub>) of the detections range from 1200 $`\mu `$Jy to 150 $`\mu `$Jy. This small range of F<sub>peak</sub> values suggests that our ability to detect radio afterglows is severely limited by the sensitivity of the telescope. The “lifetime” (i.e. t<sub>max</sub>) of the radio afterglows is signal-to-noise limited but it is clear, at least among bursts of comparable brightness, that t<sub>max</sub> varies substantially. Of special note are the three GRBs (970828, 981226, and 990506) which have no optical counterparts (i.e. XR class). These may represent an important group of GRBs whose optical emission is extincted by dust.

There are 11 GRBs for which a VLA search of the error box failed to detect a radio afterglow (see Table 2). The peak fluxes given in the table are conservative upper limits for a radio afterglow on a timescale of 1 to 30 days and at frequencies between 1.4 and 8.5 GHz. These non-detections vary in quality depending on the size of the error circle but most observations had sufficient sensitivity to detect radio afterglows with fluxes comparable to those listed in Table 1.

There have been two radio afterglow detections made at the ATCA (see Table 1). The possible relation of GRB 980425 to SN1998bw makes it a rather unusual event, so we do not include it in the detection statistics. The upper limits of the six ATCA non-detections in Table 3 were not sufficient to have detected the weaker radio afterglows in Table 1.

## Summary

In summary, our coordinated program has been very successful in detecting radio afterglows from GRBs. In particular:

* Six gamma-ray bursts are seen at X-ray, optical and radio wavelengths (GRB 970508, GRB 980329, GRB 980519, GRB 980703, GRB 990123, GRB 990510) (see Figure 1).
* Of the 23 X-ray afterglows, nine have been detected at radio wavelengths (XOR + XR) for a rate of 39%. At the VLA the detection rate is 8/19 or 42%. The small range in the observed peak flux densities suggests that our ability to detect radio afterglows is mainly limited by the sensitivity of the telescopes (VLA and ATCA).
* Of the 23 X-ray afterglows, ten have been detected at optical wavelengths (XOR + XO) or 43%. The detection rate of well-localized GRBs is comparable at optical and radio wavelengths.
* There exists a growing class (XR) of “dark” GRBs which have X-ray and radio afterglows but no known optical afterglow. These may represent an important group of GRBs whose optical emission is extincted by dust.