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Originally published in Science Express on 18 August 2005
Science 16 September 2005:
Vol. 309. no. 5742, pp. 1833 - 1835
DOI: 10.1126/science.1116168
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Reports

Bright X-ray Flares in Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglows

D. N. Burrows,1* P. Romano,2 A. Falcone,1 S. Kobayashi,1,3 B. Zhang,4 A. Moretti,2 P. T. O'Brien,5 M. R. Goad,5 S. Campana,2 K. L. Page,5 L. Angelini,6,7 S. Barthelmy,6 A. P. Beardmore,5 M. Capalbi,8 G. Chincarini,2,9 J. Cummings,6 G. Cusumano,10 D. Fox,11 P. Giommi,8 J. E. Hill,1 J. A. Kennea,1 H. Krimm,6 V. Mangano,10 F. Marshall,6 P. Mészáros,1 D. C. Morris,1 J. A. Nousek,1 J. P. Osborne,5 C. Pagani,1,2 M. Perri,8 G. Tagliaferri,2 A. A. Wells,5 S. Woosley,12 N. Gehrels6

Gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglows have provided important clues to the nature of these massive explosive events, providing direct information on the nearby environment and indirect information on the central engine that powers the burst. We report the discovery of two bright x-ray flares in GRB afterglows, including a giant flare comparable in total energy to the burst itself, each peaking minutes after the burst. These strong, rapid x-ray flares imply that the central engines of the bursts have long periods of activity, with strong internal shocks continuing for hundreds of seconds after the gamma-ray emission has ended.

1 Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 525 Davey Lab, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
2 Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF)–Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Via Bianchi 46, 23807 Merate, Italy.
3 Center for Gravitational Wave Physics, 104 Davey Lab, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
4 Department of Physics, University of Nevada, Box 454002, Las Vegas, NV 89154–4002, USA.
5 Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK.
6 NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.
7 Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.
8 Agenzia Spaziale Italiana Science Data Center, Via Galileo Galilei, 00044 Frascati, Italy.
9 Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli studi di Milano-Bicocca, Piazza delle Scienze 3, 20126 Milan, Italy.
10 INAF–Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica Sezione di Palermo, Via Ugo La Malfa 153, 90146 Palermo, Italy.
11 Department of Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, MS 105-24, Pasadena, CA, 91125, USA.
12 Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA.

Published online 18 August 2005;

Include this information when citing this paper.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: burrows{at}astro.psu.edu

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