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A possible macronova in the late afterglow of the long–short burst GRB 060614

Bin Yang,Zhiping Jin,Xiang Li,S. Covino,Xianzhong Zheng,K. Hotokezaka,Yizhong Fan,T. Piran,D. Wei

Published 2015 in Nature Communications

ABSTRACT

Long-duration (>2 s) γ-ray bursts that are believed to originate from the death of massive stars are expected to be accompanied by supernovae. GRB 060614, that lasted 102 s, lacks a supernova-like emission down to very stringent limits and its physical origin is still debated. Here we report the discovery of near-infrared bump that is significantly above the regular decaying afterglow. This red bump is inconsistent with even the weakest known supernova. However, it can arise from a Li-Paczyński macronova—the radioactive decay of debris following a compact binary merger. If this interpretation is correct, GRB 060614 arose from a compact binary merger rather than from the death of a massive star and it was a site of a significant production of heavy r-process elements. The significant ejected mass favours a black hole–neutron star merger but a double neutron star merger cannot be ruled out. The gamma-ray burst GRB 060614 was an unusual astrophysical event whose origins are still unclear. This study re-examines the burst’s afterglow data and finds an excess in the spectrum that appears to be consistent with a weak macronova, suggesting that GRB 060614 originated from a compact binary merger.

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