Related papers: Long Gamma-Ray Burst Host Galaxies and their Envir…
With its rapid-response capability and multiwavelength complement of instruments, the Swift satellite has transformed our physical understanding of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Providing high-quality observations of hundreds of bursts, and…
Since the launch of the highly successful and ongoing Swift mission, the field of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) has undergone a revolution. The arcsecond GRB localizations available within just a few minutes of the GRB alert has signified the…
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are ideal probes of the epoch of the first stars and galaxies. We review the recent theoretical understanding of the formation and evolution of the first (so-called Population III) stars, in light of their viability…
It is now more than 40 years since the discovery of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and in the last two decades there has been major progress in the observations of bursts, the afterglows and their host galaxies. This recent progress has been…
We review our current understanding of the progenitors of both long and short duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Constraints can be derived from multiple directions, and we use three distinct strands; i) direct observations of GRBs and their…
Long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are powerful tracers of star-forming galaxies. We have defined a homogeneous subsample of 69 Swift GRB-selected galaxies spanning a very wide redshift range. Special attention has been devoted to making…
After presenting a short history of gamma-ray burst (GRB) studies, we discuss the current constraints on GRB models which follows from astronomical observations. We concentrate on the energetics of the GRBs with known redshifts and the…
In the early Universe, most of the cold neutral gas that will later form into individual stars and galaxies is practically invisible to us. These neutral gas reservoirs can, however, be illuminated by bright cosmic lightsources such as…
Long duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) accompany the deaths of some massive stars and hence, since massive stars are short lived, are a tracer of star formation activity. Given that GRBs are bright enough to be seen to very high redshifts,…
The study of gamma-ray burst (GRB) host galaxies in the radio, sub-mm, and X-ray wavelength regimes began only recently, in contrast to optical studies. This is mainly due to the long timescale on which the radio afterglow emission decays,…
Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) are unique probes of the cosmic star formation history and the state of the intergalactic medium up to the redshifts of the first stars. In particular, the ongoing {\it Swift} mission might be the first observatory…
High-redshift Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) beyond redshift $\sim6$ are potentially powerful tools to probe the distant early Universe. Their detections in large numbers and at truly high redshifts call for the next generation of high-energy…
Long duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) allow us to explore the distant Universe, and are potentially the most effective tracer of the most distant objects. Our current knowledge of the properties of GRB host galaxies at redshifts >5 is very…
Ly-alpha emission is indicative of on-going star formation in a dust-poor environment. Ly-alpha imaging is therefore a probe of the star formation rate and of the dust-content of Gamma-Ray Burst host galaxies. Both of these parameters are…
The properties of the ambient medium in which GRBs go off are an important piece of the puzzle, not only as an issue in itself, but because of their link with the nature of the progenitor. In this review, I describe and critically comment…
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are cosmologically distributed, very energetic and very transient sources detected in the gamma-ray domain. The identification of their x-ray and optical afterglows allowed so far the redshift measurement of 150…
Since the successful launch of NASA's dedicated gamma-ray burst (GRB) mission, Swift, the study of cosmological GRBs has entered a new era. Here I review the rapid observational and theoretical progress in this dynamical research field…
One of the most important task of the Gamma-Ray Burst field is the classification of the bursts. Many researches have proven the existence of the third kind (intermediate duration) of GRBs in the BATSE data. Recent works have analyzed…
[Abridged] We present the first comprehensive analysis of HST observations of short-duration gamma-ray burst (GRB) host galaxies. These observations allow us to characterize the galactic and local environments of short GRBs as a powerful…
We study the internal structural properties of 37 long duration gamma-ray burst (GRB) host galaxies imaged with the Hubble Space Telescope. Fitting exponential disk and r^1/4 models to the surface brightness profiles of eight z < 1.2 bright…