What Are Gamma-ray Bursts?

by Bloom, Joshua S.

• ISBN13: 9780691145570
• ISBN10: 0691145571
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-01-10
• Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr

Summary

Gamma-ray bursts are the brightest--and, until recently, among the least understood--cosmic events in the universe. Discovered by chance during the cold war, these evanescent high-energy explosions confounded astronomers for decades. But a rapid series of startling breakthroughs beginning in 1997 revealed that the majority of gamma-ray bursts are caused by the explosions of young and massive stars in the vast star-forming cauldrons of distant galaxies. New findings also point to very different origins for some events, serving to complicate but enrich our understanding of the exotic and violent universe.What Are Gamma-Ray Bursts?is a succinct introduction to this fast-growing subject, written by an astrophysicist who is at the forefront of today's research into these incredible cosmic phenomena.Joshua Bloom gives readers a concise and accessible overview of gamma-ray bursts and the theoretical framework that physicists have developed to make sense of complex observations across the electromagnetic spectrum. He traces the history of remarkable discoveries that led to our current understanding of gamma-ray bursts, and reveals the decisive role these phenomena could play in the grand pursuits of twenty-first century astrophysics, from studying gravity waves and unveiling the growth of stars and galaxies after the big bang to surmising the ultimate fate of the universe itself.What Are Gamma-Ray Bursts?is an essential primer to this exciting frontier of scientific inquiry, and a must-read for anyone seeking to keep pace with cutting-edge developments in physics today.

Author Biography

Joshua S. Bloom is associate professor of astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
Serendipity during the Cold War	p. 1
A New Field Begins	p. 7
Precise Localizations and the Search for Counterparts	p. 10
The March 5th Event and Soft Gamma-Ray Repeaters	p. 12
BATSE and the Great Debate	p. 16
The Afterglow Era Begins	p. 23
Progenitors and Diversity	p. 29
Gamma-Ray Bursts in a Universal Context	p. 37
Into the Belly of the Beast	p. 40
What Are Gamma-Ray Bursts?	p. 40
Understanding the Origin of the High-Energy Emission	p. 52
The Central Engine	p. 62
Afterglows	p. 72
Phenomenology	p. 73
Origin of the Emission	p. 90
Evidence for Jetting	p. 105
Late-Time Observations	p. 111
The Events in Context	p. 113
Local Scales	p. 114
Galactic Scales	p. 121
Universal Scales	p. 127
The Progenitors of Gamma-Ray Bursts	p. 135
A Massive-Star Origin	p. 137
Mergers of Compact Objects	p. 150
Extragalactic Magnetars	p. 163
Classification Challenges	p. 165
Gamma-Ray Bursts as Probes of the Universe	p. 169
Studies of Gas, Dust, and Galaxies	p. 171
The History of Star Formation	p. 177
Cosmic Dawn: Measuring Reionization and the First Objects in the Universe	p. 181
Neutrinos, Gravitational Waves, and Cosmic Rays	p. 191
Quantum Gravity and the Expansion of the Universe	p. 195
The Future of Gamma-Ray Bursts: At the Nexus of Physical and Astrophysical Inquiry	p. 200
Notes	p. 203
Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 227
Glossary	p. 231
Index	p. 249
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