GRB Afterglows in the ELT Era
Abstract
Afterglow phenomenology on a statistical basis is a substantial tool to get insight into the physical processes at work (cf. [A. Panaitescu et al. in Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 366, 1357 (2006); B. Zhang in Nature 444, 1010 (2007)]). Since several years we have been undertaken such an approach by gathering and analyzing the largest possible optical/NIR data set in a systematic way [D.A. Kann et al. in Astrophys. J. 641, 993 (2006); D.A. Kann et al. in Astrophys. J. (2007), submitted; D.A. Kann et al. (2008), in preparation; A. Zeh, S. Klose, D.H. Hartmann in Astrophys. J. 609, 952 (2004); A. Zeh, S. Klose, D.A. Kann in Astrophys. J. 637, 889 (2006)]. In Zeh et al. [Astrophys. J. 609, 952 (2004)] we analyzed all optical afterglows searching for supernova light appearing at late times and discovered that the data indicate that all long bursts are related to supernova explosions. In Zeh et al. [Astrophys. J. 637, 889 (2006)] and Kann et al. [Astrophys. J. 641, 993 (2006)] we investigated the light curve shape and the spectral energy distribution of all optical afterglows known in the pre-Swift era in a systematic way. Finally, in the most recent and most comprehensive publications [D.A. Kann et al. in Astrophys. J. (2007), submitted; D.A. Kann et al. (2008), in preparation] we used our data base to discuss the properties of the afterglows of short bursts in comparison to the long burst sample, as well as comparing the long GRB afterglows of the pre-Swift with those of the Swift era.
- Publication:
-
Science with the VLT in the ELT Era
- Pub Date:
- 2009
- DOI:
- 10.1007/978-1-4020-9190-2_39
- arXiv:
- arXiv:0804.1979
- Bibcode:
- 2009ASSP....9..233K
- Keywords:
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- Physics;
- Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- Submitted to the conference proceedings of the ESO workshop "Science with the VLT in the ELT Era"