Host Galaxies of Gamma-ray Bursts: Spectral Energy Distributions and Internal Extinction

V. V. Sokolov, T. A. Fatkhullin, A. J. Castro-Tirado, A. S. Fruchter, V. N. Komarova, E. R. Kasimova, S. N. Dodonov, V. L. Afanasiev, A. V. Moiseev

Published 2001-04-05, updated 2001-04-15Version 2

We present BVRcIc broad-band flux spectra for the host galaxies of GRB970508, GRB980613, GRB980703, GRB990123 and GRB991208 obtained with the 6-m telescope of SAO RAS. The BVRcIc of these hosts are best fitted by the spectral properties of template SEDs of starburst galaxies and that there is a significant internal extinction in these host galaxies. We derived the absolute magnitudes of the GRB host galaxies making use of SEDs for the starburst galaxies. We performed the population synthesis modeling of the continuum spectral energy distribution of the host galaxies of GRB970508 and GRB980703 using different extinction laws and assuming burst and exponential scenarios of star formation. The comparison of BVRcIc broad-band flux spectra with the local starburst galaxies templates and theoretical templates as well as direct estimates (using Balmer emission lines) of the internal extinction shows that it is likely to be of great importance to take into account effects of the internal extinction in the host galaxies. From the SED of the host galaxy of GRB991208 and from the intensity of their spectral lines it follows that this is a GRB galaxy with the highest massive star-formation rate of all known GRB galaxies. The reduced luminosity of these dusty galaxies (e.g. for the host of GRB970508 A_V\sim 2 mag, for the host of GRB980703 A_V\sim 0.6 mag and for the host of GRB991208 A_V\sim 2 mag) could explain the observational fact: none of the observed GRB host galaxies with known distances is brighter than the local galaxies with the luminosity L_*.