Radio afterglows and host galaxies of gamma-ray bursts

Abstract

Considering the contribution of emission from the host galaxies of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) to radio afterglows, we investigate the effect of host galaxies on observations statistically. For the three types of event, i.e. low-luminosity, standard and high-luminosity GRBs, it is found that a tight correlation exists between the ratio of the radio flux (RRF) of the host galaxy to the total radio peak emission and the observational frequency. Towards lower frequencies, in particular, the contribution from the host increases significantly. The correlation can be used to obtain a useful estimate for the radio brightness of those host galaxies that only have very limited radio afterglow data. Using this prediction, we reconsidered the theoretical radio afterglow light curves for four kinds of event: high-luminosity, low-luminosity, standard and failed GRBs, taking into account the contribution from host galaxies and aiming to explore the detectability of these events by the Five-hundred-metre Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST). Lying at a typical redshift of z = 1, most of the events can be detected easily by FAST. For the less fierce low-luminosity GRBs, their radio afterglows are not strong enough to exceed the sensitivity limit of FAST at such distances. However, since a large number of low-luminosity bursts actually happen very near to us, it is expected that FAST will still be able to detect many of them.