The afterglow and early-type host galaxy of the short GRB 150101B at z = 0.1343
We present the discovery of the X-ray and optical afterglows of the short-duration GRB 150101B, pinpointing the event to an early-type host galaxy at z = 0.1343 ± 0.0030. This makes GRB 150101B the most nearby short gamma-ray burst (GRB) with an early-type host galaxy discovered to date. Fitting the spectral energy distribution of the host galaxy results in an inferred stellar mass of ≈7×10{sup 10} M{sub ⊙}, stellar population age of ≈2–2.5 Gyr, and star formation rate of ≲0.4 M {sub ⊙} yr{sup −1}. The host of GRB 150101B is one of the largest and most luminous short GRB host galaxies, with a B-band luminosity of ≈4.3L{sup ∗} and half-light radius of ≈8 kpc. GRB 150101B is located at a projected distance of 7.35 ± 0.07 kpc from its host center and lies on a faint region of its host rest-frame optical light. Its location, combined with the lack of associated supernova, is consistent with an NS–NS/NS–BH merger progenitor. From modeling the evolution of the broadband afterglow, we calculate isotropic-equivalent gamma-ray and kinetic energies of ≈1.3×10{sup 49} erg and ≈(6--14)×10{sup 51} erg, respectively, a circumburst density of ≈(0.8--4)×10{sup −5} cm{sup −3}, and a jet opening angle of ≳9°. Using observations extending to ≈30 days, we place upper limits of ≲(2--4)×10{sup 41} erg s{sup −1} on associated kilonova emission. We compare searches following previous short GRBs to existing kilonova models and demonstrate the difficulty of performing effective kilonova searches from cosmological short GRBs using current ground-based facilities. We show that at the Advanced LIGO/VIRGO horizon distance of 200 Mpc, searches reaching depths of ≈23–24 AB mag are necessary to probe a meaningful range of kilonova models.