@article{AbdallaAdamAharonianetal.2019, author = {Abdalla, Hassan E. and Adam, R. and Aharonian, Felix A. and Benkhali, F. Ait and Ang{\"u}ner, Ekrem Oǧuzhan and Arakawa, M. and Arcaro, C. and Armand, C. and Ashkar, H. and Backes, M. and Martins, V. Barbosa and Barnard, M. and Becherini, Y. and Berge, D. and Bernloehr, K. and Bissaldi, E. and Blackwell, R. and Boettcher, M. and Boisson, C. and Bolmont, J. and Bonnefoy, S. and Bregeon, J. and Breuhaus, M. and Brun, F. and Brun, P. and Bryan, M. and Buechele, M. and Bulik, T. and Bylund, T. and Capasso, M. and Caroff, S. and Carosi, A. and Casanova, Sabrina and Cerruti, M. and Chand, T. and Chandra, S. and Chen, A. and Colafrancesco, S. and Curylo, M. and Davids, I. D. and Deil, C. and Devin, J. and deWilt, P. and Dirson, L. and Djannati-Atai, A. and Dmytriiev, A. and Donath, A. and Doroshenko, V and Dyks, J. and Egberts, Kathrin and Emery, G. and Ernenwein, J-P and Eschbach, S. and Feijen, K. and Fegan, S. and Fiasson, A. and Fontaine, G. and Funk, S. and Fussling, Matthias and Gabici, S. and Gallant, Y. A. and Gate, F. and Giavitto, G. and Giunti, L. and Glawion, D. and Glicenstein, J. F. and Gottschall, D. and Grondin, M-H and Hahn, J. and Haupt, M. and Heinzelmann, G. and Henri, G. and Hermann, G. and Hinton, J. A. and Hofmann, W. and Hoischen, Clemens and Holch, T. L. and Holler, M. and Horns, D. and Huber, D. and Iwasaki, H. and Jamrozy, M. and Jankowsky, D. and Jankowsky, F. and Jardin-Blicq, A. and Jung-Richardt, I and Kastendieck, M. A. and Katarzynski, K. and Katsuragawa, M. and Katz, U. and Khangulyan, D. and Khelifi, B. and King, J. and Klepser, S. and Kluzniak, W. and Komin, Nu and Kosack, K. and Kostunin, D. and Kreter, M. and Lamanna, G. and Lemiere, A. and Lemoine-Goumard, M. and Lenain, J-P and Leser, Eva and Levy, C. and Lohse, T. and Lypova, I and Mackey, J. and Majumdar, J. and Malyshev, D. and Marandon, V and Marcowith, Alexandre and Mares, A. and Mariaud, C. and Marti-Devesa, G. and Marx, R. and Maurin, G. and Meintjes, P. J. and Mitchell, A. M. W. and Moderski, R. and Mohamed, M. and Mohrmann, L. and Moore, C. and Moulin, Emmanuel and Muller, J. and Murach, T. and Nakashima, S. and de Naurois, M. and Ndiyavala, H. and Niederwanger, F. and Niemiec, J. and Oakes, L. and Odaka, H. and Ohm, S. and Wilhelmi, E. de Ona and Ostrowski, M. and Oya, I and Panter, M. and Parsons, R. D. and Perennes, C. and Petrucci, P-O and Peyaud, B. and Piel, Q. and Pita, S. and Poireau, V and Noel, A. Priyana and Prokhorov, D. A. and Prokoph, H. and Puehlhofer, G. and Punch, M. and Quirrenbach, A. and Raab, S. and Rauth, R. and Reimer, A. and Reimer, O. and Remy, Q. and Renaud, M. and Rieger, F. and Rinchiuso, L. and Romoli, C. and Rowell, G. and Rudak, B. and Ruiz-Velasco, E. and Sahakian, V and Sailer, S. and Saito, S. and Sanchez, D. A. and Santangelo, A. and Sasaki, M. and Schlickeiser, R. and Schussler, F. and Schulz, A. and Schutte, H. M. and Schwanke, U. and Schwemmer, S. and Seglar-Arroyo, M. and Senniappan, M. and Seyffert, A. S. and Shafi, N. and Shiningayamwe, K. and Simoni, R. and Sinha, A. and Sol, H. and Specovius, A. and Spir-Jacob, M. and Stawarz, L. and Steenkamp, R. and Stegmann, Christian and Steppa, Constantin Beverly and Takahashi, T. and Tavernier, T. and Taylor, A. M. and Terrier, R. and Tiziani, D. and Tluczykont, M. and Trichard, C. and Tsirou, M. and Tsuji, N. and Tuffs, R. and Uchiyama, Y. and van der Walt, D. J. and van Eldik, C. and van Rensburg, C. and van Soelen, B. and Vasileiadis, G. and Veh, J. and Venter, C. and Vincent, P. and Vink, J. and Voelk, H. J. and Vuillaume, T. and Wadiasingh, Z. and Wagner, S. J. and White, R. and Wierzcholska, A. and Yang, R. and Yoneda, H. and Zacharias, M. and Zanin, R. and Zdziarski, A. A. and Zech, Alraune and Ziegler, A. and Zorn, J. and Zywucka, N. and de Palma, F. and Axelsson, M. and Roberts, O. J.}, title = {A very-high-energy component deep in the gamma-ray burst afterglow}, series = {Nature : the international weekly journal of science}, volume = {575}, journal = {Nature : the international weekly journal of science}, number = {7783}, publisher = {Nature Publ. Group}, address = {London}, issn = {0028-0836}, doi = {10.1038/s41586-019-1743-9}, pages = {464 -- +}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are brief flashes of gamma-rays and are considered to be the most energetic explosive phenomena in the Universe(1). The emission from GRBs comprises a short (typically tens of seconds) and bright prompt emission, followed by a much longer afterglow phase. During the afterglow phase, the shocked outflow-produced by the interaction between the ejected matter and the circumburst medium-slows down, and a gradual decrease in brightness is observed(2). GRBs typically emit most of their energy via.-rays with energies in the kiloelectronvolt-to-megaelectronvolt range, but a few photons with energies of tens of gigaelectronvolts have been detected by space-based instruments(3). However, the origins of such high-energy (above one gigaelectronvolt) photons and the presence of very-high-energy (more than 100 gigaelectronvolts) emission have remained elusive(4). Here we report observations of very-high-energy emission in the bright GRB 180720B deep in the GRB afterglow-ten hours after the end of the prompt emission phase, when the X-ray flux had already decayed by four orders of magnitude. Two possible explanations exist for the observed radiation: inverse Compton emission and synchrotron emission of ultrarelativistic electrons. Our observations show that the energy fluxes in the X-ray and gamma-ray range and their photon indices remain comparable to each other throughout the afterglow. This discovery places distinct constraints on the GRB environment for both emission mechanisms, with the inverse Compton explanation alleviating the particle energy requirements for the emission observed at late times. The late timing of this detection has consequences for the future observations of GRBs at the highest energies.}, language = {en} }