The Unique Potential of SKA Radio Observations of Gamma-Ray Bursts

Abstract

Radio observations with the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) provide the agility, sensitivity, and spectral coverage to trace the evolution of the size, shape and spectra of gamma-ray burst (GRB) remnants from the earliest moments on. In the first hours to days after the burst a major, and unique tool, will be provided through the study of dynamically evolving radio spectra, caused by diffractive and refractive scintillation in the local ISM. Simultaneous observations from optically thin to optically thick frequencies will provide strong constraints on any model for the GRB remnant. SKA will also allow for extremely rapid (within minutes, if not seconds) follow-up observations by electronic steering of the array. SKA observations have the sensitivity to detect GRB afterglows out to redshifts of 10 or greater. They therefore allow studies of the high redshift universe, and measure the massive star formation (and massive star death rate!) history of the universe, unbiased by optical obscuration. Wide field surveys may detect thousands of GRBs within a few days of observing (depending on the amount of collimation, the width of the GRB luminosity function, the number of GRBs like GRB 980425/SN 1998bw). There would be new ones, but many more would be old, fading afterglows, allowing the determination of the multi-variate GRB-optical-radio luminosity function of GRBs. This should elucidate the relation of the `faint' ones, like GRB 980425, to the luminous ones like GRB 970508. Such surveys will also tell us whether GRB fireballs (and which ones) are collimated into jets.

arXiv comment8 pages, 2 figures, to appear in Perspectives in Radio Astronomy: Scientific Imperatives at cm and m Wavelengths (Dwingeloo: NFRA), Edited by: M.P. van Haarlem & J.M. van der Hulst

References in corpus (18)

• Discovery of the peculiar supernova 1998bw in the error box of GRB980425
• Gamma-Ray Bursts and the Fireball Model
• The Dynamics and Light Curves of Beamed Gamma Ray Burst Afterglows
• Observation of contemporaneous optical radiation from a gamma-ray burst
• Predictions for The Very Early Afterglow and The Optical Flash
• The unusual afterglow of GRB 980326: evidence for the gamma-ray burst/supernova connection
• Shocked by GRB 970228: the afterglow of a cosmological fireball
• Physical parameters of GRB 970508 and GRB 971214 from their afterglow synchrotron emission
• The afterglow, the redshift, and the extreme energetics of the gamma-ray burst 990123
• The history of star formation in dusty galaxies
• GRB990123, The Optical Flash and The Fireball Model
• GRB 990123: Reverse and Internal Shock Flashes and Late Afterglow
• Optical and Radio Observations of the Afterglow from GRB990510: Evidence for a Jet
• A 450-day light curve of the radio afterglow of GRB 970508: Fireball calorimetry
• GRB 970228 Revisited: Evidence for a Supernova in the Light Curve and La te Spectral Energy Distribution of the Afterglow
• Evidence for a supernova in reanalyzed optical and near-infrared images of GRB970228
• The discovery of a microarcsecond quasar: J1819+3845
• Collapsars, Gamma-Ray Bursts, and Supernovae