GCN Circular 16269
Subject
GRB 140515A: Gemini-N redshift
Date
2014-05-15T13:55:55Z (10 years ago)
From
Ryan Chornock at Harvard <rchornock@cfa.harvard.edu>
R. Chornock (Harvard), D. B. Fox (Penn State), and E. Berger (Harvard) report:
We observed the field of GRB 140515A (D'Avanzo et al., GCN 16267) using GMOS on
the Gemini-N 8-m telescope, starting at 10:48 UT on 15 May. A faint source was
present in the i band acquisition image at a position consistent with the X-ray
afterglow. We obtained 2x900s of spectroscopy of this likely afterglow,
covering the wavelength range 5900-10150 Angstroms at a resolution of R~1200.
The afterglow has a strong continuum at long wavelengths that sharply drops to
near zero at wavelengths shortward of lambda~8900 Angs, consistent with the
onset of Lyman-alpha absorption at z=6.32. Isolated wavelength intervals of IGM
transmission exist between 7500 and 8000 Angs (corresponding to z~5.2-5.6
relative to Ly-alpha). Further analysis is ongoing.
We acknowledge excellent support from Gemini observer Lucas Fuhrman.