Related papers: Gamma-Ray Bursts: the Four Crises
Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) are unpredictable and brief flashes of gamma rays that occur about once a day in random locations in the sky. Since gamma rays do not penetrate the Earth's atmosphere, they are detected by satellites, which…
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…
Ultra-relativistic motion and efficient conversion of kinetic energy to radiation are required by gamma-ray burst (GRB) observations, yet they are difficult to simultaneously achieve. Three leading mechanisms have been proposed to explain…
The gamma ray burst phenomenon is reviewed from a theoretical point of view, with emphasis on the fireball shock scenario of the prompt emission and the longer wavelenght afterglow. Recent progress and issues are discussed, including…
The discovery of GRBs' afterglows has allowed us to establish several facts: their distance and energy scales, the fact that they are due to explosions, that the explosions are relativistic, and that the afterglow emission mechanism is…
The blast-wave model for gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) has been called into question by observations of spectra from GRBs that are harder than can be produced through optically thin synchrotron emission. If GRBs originate from the collapse of…
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are bright flashes of gamma-rays coming from the cosmos. They occur roughly once per day, last typically 10s of seconds and are the most luminous events in the universe. More than three decades after their discovery,…
Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) are the brightest objects observed. They are also the most relativistic objects known so far. GRBs occur when an ultrarelativisitic ejecta is slowed down by internal shocks within the flow. Relativistic particles…
The taxonomy of optical emission detected during the critical first few minutes after the onset of a gamma-ray burst (GRB) defines two broad classes: prompt optical emission correlated with prompt gamma-ray emission, and early optical…
Major advances have been made in the field of gamma-ray bursts in the last two years. The successful discovery of X-ray, optical and radio afterglows, which were predicted by theory, has made possible the identification of host galaxies at…
For a few seconds a gamma-ray burst (GRB) becomes the brightest object in the Universe, over-shining the rest of the Universe combined! Clearly this reflects extreme conditions that are fascinating and worth exploring. The recent discovery…
Long duration gamma-ray bursts (GRB) are at cosmological distance, they appear to be located near star forming regions, and are likely associated with some type of supernovae. They are also likely to be strongly beamed, which lowers their…
Cosmological gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are probably powered by systems harboring a rotating black hole. These may result from hypernovae or black hole-neutron star coalescence. We identify short/long bursts with hyper- and suspended-accretion…
We assume that internal shocks of Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) consist of multiple sub-jets with a collimation half-angle $\sim {\rm several }\times\gamma_i^{-1}$, where $\gamma_i$ is the Lorenz factor of each sub-jet. If by chance a sub-jet is…
The Swift satellite has enabled us to follow the evolution of gamma-ray burst (GRB) fireballs from the prompt gamma-ray emission to the afterglow phase. The early x-ray and optical data obtained by telescopes aboard the Swift satellite show…
The origin of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) has been enigmatic since their discovery. The situation improved dramatically in 1997, when the rapid availability of precise coordinates for the bursts allowed the detection of faint optical and radio…
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…
We propose that gamma ray bursts (GRBs) are produced by a shower of heavy blobs running into circumstellar material at highly relativistic speeds. The gamma ray emission is produced in the shocks these bullets drive into the surrounding…
[Abridged] The study of short-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) experienced a complete revolution in recent years thanks to the discovery of the first afterglows and host galaxies in May 2005. These observations demonstrated that short GRBs…
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the most luminous electromagnetic explosions in the Universe, which emit up to $8.8\times10^{54}$ erg isotropic equivalent energy in the hard X-ray band. The high luminosity makes them detectable out to the…