The early and late - time spectral and temporal evolution of GRB 050716

We report on a comprehensive set of observations of Gamma Ray Burst 050716, detected by the Swift satellite and subsequently followed-up rapidly in X-ray, optical and near infra-red wavebands. The prompt emission is typical of long-duration bursts, with two peaks in a time interval of T90 = 68 seconds (15 – 350 keV). The prompt emission continues at lower flux levels in the X-ray band, where several smaller flares can be seen, on top of a decaying light curve that exhibits an apparent break around 220 seconds post trigger. This temporal break is roughly coincident with a spectral break. The latter can be related to the extrapolated evolution of the break energy in the prompt γ-ray emission, and is possibly the manifestation of the peak flux break frequency of the internal shock passing through the observing band. A possible 3 σ change in the X-ray absorption column is also seen during this time. The late-time afterglow behaviour is relatively standard, with an electron distribution power-law index of p = 2; there is no noticable temporal break out to at least 10 days. The broad-band optical/nIR to X-ray spectrum indicates a redshift of z & 2 for this burst, with a host-galaxy extinction value of EB−V ≈ 0.7 that prefers an SMC-like extinction curve.