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The Host Galaxy of GRB 031203: Implications of its low metallicity, low redshift, and starburst nature

We present Keck/NIRSPEC near-IR images and Magellan/IMACS optical spectroscopy of the host galaxy of GRB 031203. The host is an actively star-forming galaxy at z=0.1055 +/- 0.0001. This is the lowest redshift GRB to-date, aside from GRB 980425. From the hydrogen Balmer lines, we infer an extinction of A_V = 3.62 +/- 0.25 or a total reddening E_T(B-V) = 1.17 +/- 0.1 toward the sightline to the nebular regions. After correcting for reddening, we perform an emission-line analysis and derive an ISM temperature of T=13400+/-2000K and electron density of n_e = 300 cm^(-3). These imply a metallicity [O/H]=-0.72+/-0.15 dex and a roughly solar abundance pattern for N, Ne, S, and Ar. Integrating Ha, we infer a dust-corrected star formation rate (SFR) of > 11 Msol/yr. These observations have the following implications: (1) the galaxy has a low K'-band luminosity L ~ L^*/5, typical of GRB host galaxies; (2) the low redshift indicates GRB 031203 had an isotropic-equivalent gamma-ray energy release smaller than all previous confirmed GRB events. The burst discovery raises the likelihood of identifying many additional low z, low flux events with Swift; (3) the large SFR, low metallicity, and the inferred hard radiation field is suggestive of massive star formation, supporting the collapsar model; (4) several lines of evidence argue against the identification of GRB 031203 as an X-ray flash event.