# techniques: spectroscopic

## Slow-speed Supernovae from the Palomar Transient Factory: Two Channels

Since the discovery of the unusual prototype SN 2002cx, the eponymous class of Type I (hydrogen-poor) supernovae with low ejecta speeds has grown to include approximately two dozen members identified from several heterogeneous surveys, in some cases …

## The highly eccentric detached eclipsing binaries in ACVS and MACC

Next-generation synoptic photometric surveys will yield unprecedented (for the astronomical community) volumes of data and the processes of discovery and rare-object identification are, by necessity, becoming more autonomous. Such autonomous searches …

## An Independent Measurement of the Incidence of Mg II Absorbers along Gamma-Ray Burst Sight Lines: The End of the Mystery?

In 2006, Prochter et al. reported a statistically significant enhancement of very strong Mg II absorption systems intervening the sight lines to gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) relative to the incidence of such absorption along quasar sight lines. This …

## Constraining Gamma-Ray Burst Emission Physics with Extensive Early-time, Multiband Follow-up

Understanding the origin and diversity of emission processes responsible for gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) remains a pressing challenge. While prompt and contemporaneous panchromatic observations have the potential to test predictions of the …

## Casting Light on the Anomalous'' Statistics of Mg II Absorbers Toward Gamma-ray Burst Afterglows: The Incidence of Weak Systems

We revisit echelle spectra (spectral resolution R ≈ 40,000) of eight gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglows to obtain the incidence (dN/dz) of weak intervening Mg II systems at a mean redshift of langzrang = 1.5. We show that dN/dz of systems having …