Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

The Cosmic Rate, Luminosity Function, and Intrinsic Correlations of Long Gamma-Ray Bursts

We calculate durations and spectral parameters for 207 Swift bursts detected by the Burst Alert Telescope from 2007 April to 2009 August, including 67 events with measured redshifts. This is the first supplement to our catalog of 425 Swift gamma-ray …

GRB081028 and its late-time afterglow re-brightening

Swift captured for the first time a smoothly rising X-ray re-brightening of clear non-flaring origin after the steep decay in a long gamma-ray burst (GRB): GRB081028. A rising phase is likely present in all GRBs but is usually hidden by the prompt …

GRB090426: the environment of a rest-frame 0.35-s gamma-ray burst at a redshift of 2.609

We present the discovery of an absorption-line redshift of z = 2.609 for GRB090426, establishing the first firm lower limit to a redshift for a gamma-ray burst (GRB) with an observed duration of <2s. With a rest-frame burst duration of T$_90z$ = …

The Quasar SDSS J1536+0441: An Unusual Double-peaked Emitter

The quasar SDSS J153636.22+044127.0, exhibiting peculiar broad emission- line profiles with multiple components, was proposed as a candidate sub-parsec binary supermassive black hole system. More recently, imaging revealed two spatially distinct …

The Host Galaxies of Swift Dark Gamma-ray Bursts: Observational Constraints on Highly Obscured and Very High Redshift GRBs

In this work, we present the first results of our imaging campaign at Keck Observatory to identify the host galaxies of ``dark'' gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), events with no detected optical afterglow or with detected optical flux significantly fainter …

A γ-ray burst at a redshift of zåisebox-0.5ex 8.2

Long-duration γ-ray bursts (GRBs) are thought to result from the explosions of certain massive stars, and some are bright enough that they should be observable out to redshifts of z>20 using current technology. Hitherto, the highest redshift …

Astro2010 Decadal Survey Whitepaper: Coordinated Science in the Gravitational and Electromagnetic Skies

It is widely expected that the coming decade will witness the first direct detection of gravitational waves (GWs). The ground-based LIGO and Virgo GW observatories are being upgraded to advanced sensitivity, and are expected to observe a significant …

The First Positive Detection of Molecular Gas in a GRB Host Galaxy

We report on strong H$_2$ and CO absorption from gas within the host galaxy of gamma-ray burst (GRB) 080607. Analysis of our Keck/LRIS afterglow spectrum reveals a very large H I column density (N_H I = 10̂22.70 ± 0.15 cm-̂2) and strong metal-line …