Bulletin of the American Physical Society
2005 APS April Meeting
Saturday–Tuesday, April 16–19, 2005; Tampa, FL
Session K3: Gamma Ray Bursts I |
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Sponsoring Units: DAP Chair: James M. Ryan, University of New Hampshire Room: Marriott Tampa Waterside Grand Salon A/B |
Sunday, April 17, 2005 1:15PM - 1:51PM |
K3.00001: Properties of X-ray Flashes Inferred from Their Afterglows and Host Galaxies Invited Speaker: The X-ray flashes occur at the cosmological distances of gamma-ray bursts, but possess a non-thermal spectrum that peaks in the X-ray rather than the gamma-ray band. They were identified as a distinct phenomenon by John Heise in archival data of the Beppo-SAX Wide Field Camera, and the first prompt position for any such event was provided on October 30, 2001. Since that date we have engaged in an ambitious effort to characterize the physical properties of X-ray flashes via discovery and characterization of their broad-band afterglows and host galaxies. I will present a summary of these efforts, including: Chandra X-ray, HST and ground-based optical, and VLA radio afterglow studies; HST and Keck host galaxy imaging and spectroscopy; and searches for associated supernovae. While the HETE satellite has shown that the prompt emission characteristics of X-ray flashes form a continuum with those of X-ray-rich and ordinary gamma-ray bursts, only studies of the X-ray flash afterglows and host galaxies can address the fundamental questions of their intrinsic energies, the relativistic and/or collimated nature of their explosions, and the likely nature of their progenitors. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 17, 2005 1:51PM - 2:27PM |
K3.00002: First Gamma Ray Burst Observations with Swift Invited Speaker: Swift is a NASA Explorer mission that was launched on November 20, 2004. It is a multiwavelength observatory for transient astronomy. The goals of the mission are to determine the origin of gamma-ray bursts and their afterglows and use bursts to probe the early Universe. A wide-field gamma-ray camera will detect more than a hundred GRBs per year to 3 times fainter than BATSE. Sensitive narrow-field X- ray and UV/optical telescopes will be pointed at the burst location in 20 to 70 sec by an autonomously controlled ``swift" spacecraft. For each burst, arcsec positions will be determined and optical/UV/X-ray/gamma- ray spectrophotometry performed. The instrumentation is a combination of existing flight-spare hardware and design from XMM and Spectrum- X/JET-X contributed by collaborators in the UK and Italy and development of a coded-aperture camera with a large-area ($\sim$0.5 square meter) CdZnTe detector array. The ground station in Malindi is contributed by the Italian Space Agency. .Key components of the mission are vigorous follow-up and outreach programs to engage the astronomical community and public in Swift. First results from the mission will be presented. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 17, 2005 2:27PM - 3:03PM |
K3.00003: The Physics of Gamma-Ray Bursts Invited Speaker: There is now general agreement that gamma-ray bursts involve extraordinary power outputs, posing a severe theoretical challenge and - irrespective of which detailed model proves correct - involving some fascinating and extreme physical processes. I shall focus on some of the key issues relating the modeling of the trigger and the formation of the ultra relativistic outflow which has been proven to be a formidable challenge to computational techniques. [Preview Abstract] |
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