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Gamma-ray burst overview

Neil Gehrels (on behalf of the Swift Team)

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Since 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.


PACS

98.70.Rz &ggr;-ray sources; &ggr;-ray bursts

97.10.Bt Star formation

97.20.Jg Main-sequence: late-type stars (G, K, and M)

98.80.-k Cosmology

97.60.Lf Black holes

97.60.Bw Supernovae

MSC

83F05 Cosmology

85A15 Galactic and stellar structure

83C57 Black holes

85A40 Cosmology (For relativistic cosmology, see 83F05)

Subjects

Gravitation and cosmology

Astrophysics and astroparticles

Dates

Issue 18 (21 September 2008)

Received 21 April 2008, in final form 3 July 2008

Published 2 September 2008



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