A logNHI = 22.6 Damped Lyα Absorber in a Dark Gamma-Ray Burst: The Environment of GRB 050401
The optical afterglow spectrum of GRB 050401 (at z=2.8992+/-0.0004) shows the presence of a damped Lyα absorber (DLA), with logNHI=22.6+/-0.3. This is the highest column density ever observed in a DLA and is about 5 times larger than the strongest DLA detected so far in any QSO spectrum. From the optical spectrum, we also find a very large Zn
Watson, D. et al.
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2006