Signature of a Magnetar Central Engine from the Multiband Afterglow of GRB 151027A Associated with a Supernova
Abstract We report multiwavelength observations and theoretical modeling of the afterglow of gamma-ray burst (GRB) 151027A. The object exhibits a complete evolutionary sequence, including prompt gamma-ray and optical emission, an initial optical onset bump, an optical rebrightening, a late-time supernova bump, an X-ray flare, and two distinct X-ray plateaus. GRB 151027A exhibits nearly all characteristic features observed in GRB afterglows. Such a rich set of features within a single event is exceptionally rare. We show that the first X-ray plateau followed by a rapid decay can be attributed to the collapse of a newly formed magnetar to form a black hole. The second X-ray plateau can be explained by fallback accretion. We find that the energy-injection model successfully reproduces the optical rebrightening of GRB 151027A. The late-time optical bump is well described by a 56 Ni-powered supernova light curve. GRB 151027A presents a complete physical picture for GRB phenomenology, whereas reconstructing such a comprehensive picture previously required the statistical analysis of multiple GRBs.
Authors
- Hou-Jun Lü (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6396-9386)
- B Zhang
- Y. D. Hu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7400-4608)
- D. A. Perley (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8472-1996)
- Liang-Jun Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-7188-3196)
- De-Feng Kong
- S. Bradley Cenko (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1673-970X)
- Hong-Bang Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1695-3263)
- Da-Bin Lin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1474-293X)
- Yihan Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8614-8721)
- Xiang-Gao Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8411-8011)
- WeiKang Zheng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2636-6508)
- Alexei V. Filippenko (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3460-0103)
- Jie Xia
- Fei Xie (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0105-5826)
- Jing Lü
- En-Wei Liang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7044-733X)
Institutions
- University of Science and Technology of China (CN)
- Goddard Space Flight Center (US)
- University of Nevada, Las Vegas (US)
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- Guangxi University (CN)
- Purple Mountain Observatory (CN)
- Deleted Institution
- Liverpool John Moores University (GB)
- University of Hong Kong (HK)
- University of California, Berkeley (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- The Astrophysical Journal
- Published
- 2026-04-28
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ae595e
- Primary Topic
- Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China