Unveiling the Secrets of Gamma Ray Bursts

Abstract

Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) are unpredictable and brief flashes of gamma rays that occur about once a day in random locations in the sky. Since gamma rays do not penetrate the Earth's atmosphere, they are detected by satellites, which automatically trigger ground-based telescopes for follow-up observations at longer wavelengths. In this introduction to Gamma Ray Bursts we review how building a multi-wavelength picture of these events has revealed that they are the most energetic explosions since the Big Bang and are connected with stellar deaths in other galaxies. However, in spite of exceptional observational and theoretical progress in the last 15 years, recent observations raise many questions which challenge our understanding of these elusive phenomena. Gamma Ray Bursts therefore remain one of the hottest topics in modern astrophysics.

20 pages, 11 figures, review article, draft version, final version will appear in Contemporary Physics

References in corpus (12)

• The Internal-Collision-Induced Magnetic Reconnection and Turbulence (ICMART) Model of Gamma-Ray Bursts
• Gamma-Ray Bursts: Progress, Problems & Prospects
• The Galaxy Population Hosting Gamma-Ray Bursts
• Ten per cent polarized optical emission from GRB 090102
• Open Questions in GRB Physics
• Multiwavelength analysis of the intriguing GRB 061126: the reverse shock scenario and magnetization
• The Early-time Optical Properties of Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglows
• Early Optical Polarization of a Gamma Ray Burst Afterglow
• Stellar Forensics with the Supernova-GRB Connection
• Optical flashes, reverse shocks and magnetization
• Gamma Ray Bursts as Probes of the Distant Universe
• Detectability of GRB optical afterglows with Gaia satellite

Cited by in corpus (10)

• Phenomenology of Reverse-Shock Emission in the Optical Afterglows of Gamma Ray Bursts
• Spectrophotometric analysis of GRB afterglow extinction curves with X-shooter
• Update on Testing the Isotropy of the Properties of Gamma-Ray Bursts
• Limits on optical polarization during the prompt phase of GRB 140430A
• On the Lack of a Radio Afterglow from Some Gamma-ray Bursts - Insight into Their Progenitors?
• A crosstalk and non-uniformity correction method for the Compact Space-borne Compton Polarimeter POLAR
• In-flight energy calibration of the space-borne Compton polarimeter POLAR
• Relativistic simulations of long-lived reverse shocks in stratified ejecta: the origin of flares in GRB afterglows
• A method for determination of gamma-ray direction in space
• The Excess Density of Field Galaxies near z=0.56 around the Gamma-Ray Burst GRB021004 Position