PROMPT Phase II: Gamma-Ray Bursts as Probes

建议：AST-0440793首席研究员：Daniel Reichart研究所：北卡罗来纳大学教堂山标题：Prompt第二阶段：伽马射线暴问题摘要：Prompt是一个仪器获取计划，将使北卡罗来纳大学教堂山分校能够探测伽马射线暴的物理、环境和多样性，并使用它们以新的和强大的方式探测早期宇宙。同时，PROMPT将是北卡罗来纳大学教堂山分校和北卡罗来纳州每一所有天文学家或对天文学感兴趣的本科生机构之间的共享资源，包括历史上一直是非裔美国人和美洲原住民机构的机构，以及整个天文学社区。其中30多个天体的红移已经被测量，它们隐含的各向同性等效光度表明，它们是自大爆炸以来最大的大爆炸，比超新星高出6到9个数量级。考虑到爆发后第一秒和几分钟内光学/近红外余辉的潜在极高亮度，对爆发余辉的快速多波段和光谱观测不仅将使天文学家能够以新的强大方式探测伽马射线暴的物理、环境和多样性，而且人们也普遍预计它将成为早期宇宙的下一个伟大探测器。Prompt将由六个直径0.4米的望远镜组成，安装在快速旋转的支架上，将在卫星通知后几秒钟内自动拍摄伽马射线暴余辉的图像。PROMPT将在三个方面与已经和正在建造的用于研究伽马射线暴的机器人望远镜不同：(1)除了自动识别卫星提供的误差区内的余辉并在光学和近红外波长测量它之外，PROMPT具有七个波段的光谱覆盖和四个相机，将自动估计爆发的红移和莱曼极限丢失的红移，以及在爆发后几分钟内沿视线的消光曲线；(2)PROMPT将测量早期余辉的偏振历史；和(3)Prompt将与大型望远镜搭配使用，这是位于Cerro Tololo Interamerica天文台的直径4.1米的SOAR望远镜，它是唯一适合在类似快速的时间尺度上用光学和近红外光谱来跟踪PROMPT余辉的望远镜：PROMPT将利用SARAR进入一个强大得多的设备，这可能是世界上用伽马射线爆发探测早期宇宙的最佳设备。更广泛的影响：除了主要由北卡罗来纳大学教堂山天文学研究生和本科生建造和远程管理的Prompt，以及主要由教堂山的学生进行的伽马暴科学，Prompt还将通过研究对整个北卡罗来纳州的教育产生更广泛的影响：由于伽马射线暴不超过Prompt时间的50%，北卡罗来纳大学教堂山大学将与北卡罗来纳州每一所拥有天文学家或对天文学感兴趣的本科生共享这一资源，其中包括三所历史上少数族裔的机构(约占Prompt时间的20%)，以及教堂山的莫尔黑德天文馆和科学中心，它已经在为Prompt设计影响广泛的K-12项目，资金来自NASA/STScI IDEAS赠款(约占Prompt时间的10%)，并通过同行评估程序让更广泛的天文学社区(约占Prompt时间的10%)获得资助。Prompt剩下的10%的时间将用于教堂山的非GRB科学。此外，PI和合作者将在类似快速的时间尺度上通过伽马射线暴坐标网络将余辉天体测量、初步光度测量、时间和光谱信息以及近似红移和消光曲线实时计算到更广泛的伽马射线暴社区。该奖项由天文科学部和多学科活动办公室联合资助。

Proposal: AST-0440793Principal Investigator: Daniel ReichartInstitution: University of North Carolina Chapel HillTitle: PROMPT Phase II: Gamma-Ray Bursts as ProbesABSTRACT:PROMPT is an instrument acquisition program that will enable the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to probe the physics, environments, and diversity of gamma-ray bursts and use them to probe the early universe in new and powerful ways. At the same time, PROMPT will be a shared resource between University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and every undergraduate institution in the state of North Carolina with an astronomer or with an interest in astronomy, including historically African-American and Native-American institutions, as well as the astronomy community as a whole.INTELLECTUAL MERIT: Observations of gamma ray bursts and their environments over the past seven years now strongly indicate that at least the long-duration/soft-spectrum GRBs are the death cries of massive stars and the birth cries of black holes. Redshifts have been measured for over thirty of these objects and their implied isotropic-equivalent luminosities show them to be the biggest bangs since the Big Bang itself, beating supernovae by six to nine orders of magnitude. Given the potentially extreme brightness of their optical/near-infrared afterglows in the first seconds and minutes after the burst, rapid multi-band and spectroscopic observations of burst afterglows will not only enable astronomers to probe the physics, environments, and diversity of gamma ray bursts in new and powerful ways, but are also widely expected to be the next great probe of the early universe. PROMPT will consist of six, 0.4-meter diameter telescopes on rapidly slewing mounts that will automatically image gamma ray burst afterglows within seconds of satellite notification. PROMPT will differ from robotic telescopes that have been and are now being built to study gamma ray bursts in three ways: (1) In addition to automatically identifying the afterglow within the satellite-provided error region and measuring it at optical and near infrared wavelengths, PROMPT, with seven-band spectral coverage and four cameras, will automatically estimate the redshift of the burst from Lyman alpha and Lyman-limit dropout and the extinction curve along the line of sight within minutes of the burst; (2) PROMPT will measure the polarization history of the early-time afterglow; and (3) PROMPT will be paired with a large telescope, the 4.1-meter diameter SOAR telescope at Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory that is uniquely suited to follow up PROMPT afterglows with optical and NIR spectroscopy on a similarly rapid timescale: PROMPT will leverage SOAR into a significantly more powerful facility, potentially the best in the world for probing the early universe with gamma ray bursts. BROADER IMPACTS: In addition to PROMPT being built and remotely managed primarily by University of North Carolina Chapel Hill astronomy graduate and undergraduate students, and its GRB science being carried out primarily by Chapel Hill students, PROMPT will more broadly impact education through research across North Carolina: Since gamma ray bursts will require no more than about 50% of PROMPT's time, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill will share this resource with every undergraduate institution in the state of North Carolina with an astronomer or with an interest in astronomy, including three historically minority institutions (about 20% of PROMPT's time), with Chapel Hill's Morehead Planetarium and Science Center, which is already designing broad-reaching K-12 programs for PROMPT, funded by a NASA/STScI IDEAS grant (about 10% of PROMPT's time), and through a peer evaluation process the broader astronomical community (about 10% of PROMPT's time). The remaining 10% of PROMPT's time will go to non-GRB science at Chapel Hill. Also, the PI and collaborators will distribute afterglow astrometry, preliminary photometry, temporal and spectral information, and approximate redshifts and extinction curves, which PROMPT will compute in real time, to the broader gamma ray burst community through the Gamma Ray Burst Coordinates Network on a similarly rapid timescale. This award is being funded jointly by the Division of Astronomical Sciences and the Office of Multidisciplinary Activities.