Related papers: On the Origin of the Dark Gamma-Ray Bursts
Gamma-ray bursts are sudden releases of energy that for a duration of a few seconds outshine even huge galaxies. 30 years after the first detection of a gamma-ray burst their origin remains a mystery. Here I first review the ``old''…
We present evidence that the majority of rapidly-, well-localized gamma-ray bursts with undetected, or dark, optical afterglows, or `dark bursts' for short, are most likely the result of extinction by dust in the circumburst medium. First,…
Gamma-ray bursts (GRB) are sudden, intense flashes of gamma-rays which, for a few blinding seconds, light up in an otherwise fairly dark gamma-ray sky. They are detected at the rate of about once a day, and while they are on, they outshine…
Gamma-ray bursts are transient events from beyond the solar system. Besides the allure of their mysterious origin, bursts are physically fascinating because they undoubtedly require exotic physics. Optical transients coincident with burst…
The successful discovery of X-ray, optical and radio afterglows of GRB has made possible the identification of host galaxies at cosmological distances. The energy release inferred in these outbursts place them among the most energetic and…
It is by now fairly well established that gamma-ray burst afterglows result from initially relativistic outflows interacting with the medium surrounding the burster and emitting non-thermal radiation ranging from radio to X-rays. However,…
The absence of optical afterglow at some gamma-ray bursts (so called dark bursts) requires analyses of physical features of this phenomenon. It is shown that such singularity can be connected with multiphoton processes of frequencies…
The origin of cosmic gamma-ray bursts remains one of the most intriguing puzzles in astronomy. We suggest that purely general relativistic effects in the collapse of massive stars could account for these bursts. The late formation of closed…
The final chapter in the long-standing mystery of the gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) centres on the origin of the short-hard class, suspected on theoretical grounds to result from the coalescence of neutron star or black hole binary systems.…
Cosmic gamma-ray bursts are one of the great frontiers of astrophysics today. They are a playground of relativists and observers alike. They may teach us about the death of stars and the birth of black holes, the physics in extreme…
We discuss some open problems concerning the origin and the emission mechanism of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) in light of recent developments. If GRBs originate at extragalactic distances, we are facing four crises: (1) an energy crisis, models…
For Gamma-Ray Bursts occurring in dense star-forming regions, the X-ray afterglow behavior minutes to days after the trigger may be dominated by the small-angle scattering of the prompt X-ray emission off dust grains. We give a simple…
Gamma-ray bursts categorically produce broadband afterglow emission, but in some cases, emission in the optical band is dimmer than expected based on the contemporaneously observed X-ray flux. This phenomenon, aptly dubbed "optical…
Exceptional observational breakthroughs in the field of Gamma Ray Burst research are not paralleled by theoretical advances. In this review, based on the introductory talk given at the "The Shocking Universe" meeting, I argue that any…
A gamma-ray burst (GRB) releases an amount of energy similar to that of a supernova explosion, which combined with its rapid variability suggests an origin related to neutron stars or black holes. Since these compact stellar remnants form…
Gamma-ray Bursts (GRBs) are bright flashes of high energy photons that can last from about 10 milliseconds to 10 minutes. Their origin and nature have puzzled the scientific community for about 25 years until 1997, when the first X-ray…
First, we show that the gamma-ray bursts with dark optical afterglows (DOAs) cannot be explained by a failure to image deeply enough quickly enough, and argue that circumburst extinction is the most likely solution. If so, many DOAs will be…
Two types of Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are observed: short duration hard spectrum GRBs and long duration soft spectrum GRBs. For many years long GRBs were the focus of intense research while the lack of observational data limited the study of…
Gamma-ray bursts (GRB) are short and intense bursts of $\sim$100 keV$-$1MeV photons, usually followed by long-lasting decaying afterglow emission in a wide range of electromagnetic wavelengths from radio to X-ray and, sometimes, even to GeV…
My conviction is explained that none of the daily gamma-ray bursts comes from cosmic distances. In particular, nearby reflection nebulae have been mistaken for host galaxies.