1. INAF, Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, largo E. Fermi 5, I-50125 Firenze, Italy
2. Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, piazza delle Scienze 3, I-20126 Milano, Italy
3. INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, via E. Bianchi 46, I-23807 Merate (Lc), Italy
4. Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA
5. Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, viale del Parco Mellini 84, I-00136, Roma, Italy
6. Supernova Ltd, Olde Yard Village #131, Northsound Road, Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands
7. International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA/ISAS), via Beirut 2–4, I-34014 Trieste, Italy
8. INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, via di Frascati 33, I-00040 Monteporzio Catone (Roma), Italy
9. INAF, Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica di Palermo, via U. La Malfa 153, I-90146 Palermo, Italy
10. ASI Science Data Center, via G. Galilei, I-00044 Frascati, Italy
11. Dipartimento di Fisica e Matematica, Università dell'Insubria, via Valleggio 11, I-22100 Como, Italy
12. University of California, Berkeley, Space Sciences Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720-7450, USA
13. European Southern Observatory, Alonso de Córdova 3107, Vitacura, Casilla 19001, Santiago 19, Chile
14. Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio (CONICET/UBA), Casilla de Correos 67 Suc. 28, (1428) Buenos Aires, Argentina

Correspondence to: M. Della Valle¹ Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to M.D.V. (Email: massimo@arcetri.astro.it).

Abstract

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are short, intense flashes of soft -rays coming from the distant Universe. Long-duration GRBs (those lasting more than 2 s) are believed to originate from the deaths of massive stars¹, mainly on the basis of a handful of solid associations between GRBs and supernovae^{2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7}. GRB 060614, one of the closest GRBs discovered, consisted of a 5-s hard spike followed by softer, brighter emission that lasted for 100 s (refs 8, 9). Here we report deep optical observations of GRB 060614 showing no emerging supernova with absolute visual magnitude brighter than M_V = -13.7. Any supernova associated with GRB 060614 was therefore at least 100 times fainter, at optical wavelengths, than the other supernovae associated with GRBs¹⁰. This demonstrates that some long-lasting GRBs can either be associated with a very faint supernova or produced by different phenomena.

1. INAF, Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, largo E. Fermi 5, I-50125 Firenze, Italy
2. Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, piazza delle Scienze 3, I-20126 Milano, Italy
3. INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, via E. Bianchi 46, I-23807 Merate (Lc), Italy
4. Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA
5. Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, viale del Parco Mellini 84, I-00136, Roma, Italy
6. Supernova Ltd, Olde Yard Village #131, Northsound Road, Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands
7. International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA/ISAS), via Beirut 2–4, I-34014 Trieste, Italy
8. INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, via di Frascati 33, I-00040 Monteporzio Catone (Roma), Italy
9. INAF, Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica di Palermo, via U. La Malfa 153, I-90146 Palermo, Italy
10. ASI Science Data Center, via G. Galilei, I-00044 Frascati, Italy
11. Dipartimento di Fisica e Matematica, Università dell'Insubria, via Valleggio 11, I-22100 Como, Italy
12. University of California, Berkeley, Space Sciences Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720-7450, USA
13. European Southern Observatory, Alonso de Córdova 3107, Vitacura, Casilla 19001, Santiago 19, Chile
14. Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio (CONICET/UBA), Casilla de Correos 67 Suc. 28, (1428) Buenos Aires, Argentina

Correspondence to: M. Della Valle¹ Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to M.D.V. (Email: massimo@arcetri.astro.it).

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