The properties of GRB 120923A at a spectroscopic redshift of z=7.8

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are powerful probes of early stars and galaxies, during and potentially even before the era of reionization. Although the number of GRBs identified at z greater than or similar to 6 remains small, they provide a unique window on typical star-forming galaxies at that time, and thus are complementary to deep field observations. We report the identification of the optical drop-out afterglow of Swift GRB 120923A in near-infrared Gemini-North imaging, and derive a redshift of z = 7.84(-0.12)(+0.06) from Very Large Telescope/X-shooter spectroscopy. At this redshift the peak 15-150 keV luminosity of the burst was 3.2 x 10(52) erg s(-1), and in this sense it was a rather typical long-duration GRB in terms of rest frame luminosity. This burst was close to the Swift/Burst Alert Telescope detection threshold, and the X-ray and near-infrared afterglow were also faint. We present ground-and space-based follow-up observations spanning from X-ray to radio, and find that a standard external shock model with a constant-density circumburst environment of density n approximate to 4 x 10(-2) cm(-3) gives a good fit to the data. The near-infrared light curve exhibits a sharp break at t approximate to 3.4 days in the observer frame which, if interpreted as being due to a jet, corresponds to an opening angle of theta(jet) approximate to 5 degrees The beaming-corrected gamma-ray energy is then E-gamma approximate to 2 x 10(50) erg, while the beaming-corrected kinetic energy is lower, E-K approximate to 10(49) erg, suggesting that GRB 120923A was a comparatively low kinetic energy event. We discuss the implications of this event for our understanding of the high-redshift population of GRBs and their identification.