Related papers: Setting the Triggering Threshold on Swift
Gamma-ray bursts, detected by the Swift satellite, are separated into two samples: the bursts with and without determined redshifts. These two samples are compared by the standard Student t-test and F-test. We have compared the dispersions…
As the number of observed Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) continues to grow, follow-up resources need to be used more efficiently in order to maximize science output from limited telescope time. As such, it is becoming increasingly important to…
Gamma-ray bursts are traditionally classified as short and long bursts based on their $T_{\rm 90}$ value (the time interval during which an instrument observes $5\%$ to $95\%$ of gamma-ray/hard X-ray fluence). However, $T_{\rm 90}$ is…
Being able to quickly select among gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) seen by the Swift satellite those which are high-z candidates would give ground-based observers a better chance to determine a redshift for such distant GRBs. Information about…
The detection of flares with the Swift satellite triggered a lot of bservational and theoretical interest in these phenomena. As a consequence a large analysis effort started within the community to characterize the phenomenon and at the…
The delay in the arrival times between high and low energy photons from cosmic sources can be used to test the violation of the Lorentz invariance (LIV), predicted by some quantum gravity theories, and to constrain its characteristic energy…
Simultaneous observations by the large number of gamma-ray burst detectors operating in the GLAST era will provide the spectra, lightcurves and locations necessary for studying burst physics and testing the putative relations between…
We present the results of sixteen Swift-triggered GRB follow-up observations taken with the VERITAS telescope array from January, 2007 to June, 2009. The median energy threshold and response time of these observations was 260 GeV and 320 s,…
Ultra-long Gamma-Ray Bursts are a class of high energy transients lasting several hours. Their exact nature is still elusive, and several models have been proposed to explain them. Because of the limited coverage of wide field gamma-ray…
The connection between SNe and GRBs, launched by SN 1998bw/GRB 980425 and clinched by SN 2003dh/GRB 030329 -- with the two GRBs differing by a factor of approximately 50000 in luminosity -- so far suggests a rough upper limit of ~ 1-2 days…
Before the BATSE/GRO launch GRBs seem to be a uniform phenomenon with duration up to about 100 seconds. The BATSE has detected many events longer than 100 s and a few longer than 500s. We performed the off-line scan of the 1024 ms…
The X-ray Telescope (XRT), on board the {\it Swift} satellite, provides: automated source detection and position with few arcsecond accuracy within few seconds from target acquisition; CCD spectroscopy and imaging capability (0.2-10 keV),…
We report on the temporal and spectral characteristics of the early X-ray emission from the Gamma Ray Burst 051117A as observed by Swift. The superb quality of the early X-ray light-curve and spectra of this source, one of the brightest…
The Swift X-Ray Telescope often observes a rapidly decaying X-ray emission stretching to as long as $ t \sim 10^3$ seconds after a conventional prompt phase. This component is most likely due to a prompt emission viewed at large observer…
Short gamma-ray bursts (SGRBs) observed by {\it Swift} are potentially revealing the first insight into cataclysmic compact object mergers. To ultimately acquire a fundamental understanding of these events requires pan-spectral observations…
The long gamma-ray burst GRB 060714 was observed to exhibit a series of five X-ray flares beginning ~70 s after the burst trigger T0 and continuing until T0 + ~200 s. The first two flares were detected by the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) on…
I compare the burst detection sensitivity of CGRO's BATSE, Swift's BAT, the GLAST Burst Monitor (GBM) and EXIST as a function of a burst's spectrum and duration. A detector's overall burst sensitivity depends on its energy sensitivity and…
The detector at the focal plane of the Swift X-ray Telescope (XRT) supports four readout modes, automatically changed on board, to cover the dynamical range of fluxes and rapid variability expected from GRB afterglows. The Windowed Timing…
We present a comprehensive statistical analysis of Swift X-ray light-curves of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) collecting data from more than 650 GRBs discovered by Swift and other facilities. The unprecedented sample size allows us to constrain…
Long Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) constitute an important tool to study the Universe near and beyond the epoch of reionization. We delineate here the characteristics of an 'ideal' instrument for the search of GRBs at z>6-10. We find that the…