Neil Gehrels (on behalf of the Swift Team) 2008 Class. Quantum Grav. 25 184005 doi:10.1088/0264-9381/25/18/184005
Neil Gehrels (on behalf of the Swift Team)
Show affiliationsSince its launch on 20 November 2004, the Swift mission has detected ~100 gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) each year, and immediately (within ~90 s) started x-ray and UV/optical observations of the afterglow. It has already collected an impressive database including prompt emission to higher sensitivities than BATSE, uniform monitoring of afterglows and rapid follow-up by other observatories notified through the GCN. The x-ray afterglows have been found to have complex temporal shapes including tail emission from the prompt phase and bright flares. X-ray and optical afterglow detections from short bursts have led to accurate localizations. It is found that short bursts can occur in non-star forming galaxies or regions, whereas long GRBs are strongly concentrated within star forming regions. The location of short bursts in regions of galaxies where late-type stars reside is consistent with the NS merger model. Concerning the connection of GRBs to supernovae, GRB 060218 associated with SN 2006aj adds a valuable member to the class of GRBs with detected supernova. The prospects for future progress are excellent given the >10 years orbital lifetime of the Swift satellite.
98.70.Rz &ggr;-ray sources; &ggr;-ray bursts
Issue 18 (21 September 2008)
Received 21 April 2008, in final form 3 July 2008
Published 2 September 2008
Neil Gehrels (on behalf of the Swift Team) 2008 Class. Quantum Grav. 25 184005
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