Gamma-Ray Bursts: From Progenitors to Probes

该奖项资助获得和分析X射线，光学，红外，毫米和无线电波长观测的工作，以研究短寿命伽马射线暴发射（GRB）的爆炸特性。 伽马射线暴是一种神秘的、短暂的高能现象（比超新星爆炸要亮得多），可能是由中子星和/或黑洞组成的双星合并引起的。 研究人员还计划使用来自非常遥远的伽马射线暴作为“手电筒”来照亮前景星系和星系际介质。 这些测量将被用来测量星系的化学富集，并限制再电离时代（EoR）的模型，这在宇宙学模型中起着主导作用。 EoR发生在宇宙只有几亿年的时候，标志着宇宙的气体成分从大部分中性转变为大部分电离。 研究人员将把天文学研究纳入本科课程，培训和指导学生和博士后研究员，并进行公共宣传。这项工作将通过使用各种望远镜，包括JVLA、CARMA、阿尔马、麦哲伦、钱德拉和双子座望远镜，重点关注三个主要目标来完成。 研究者将：1）确定伽玛射线暴喷出物的成分2）测量短伽玛暴的喷流张开角以确定能量尺度和速率，寻找r-过程动力的对应物以测试预测伽玛暴是由致密天体双星产生的模型;（3）利用伽玛暴辐射测量星系金属丰度和在直接观测无法达到的红移处的再电离，并研究z = 2 - 5处的质量-金属丰度关系。

This award funds work to obtain and analyze X-ray, optical, infrared, millimeter and radio wavelength observations to study the explosion properties of short-lived Gamma Ray Burst emission (GRBs). GRBs are mysterious, transient highly energetic phenomena (significantly brighter than supernova explosions) that may be caused by the merger of binaries composed of neutron stars and/or a black hole. The investigators also plan to use the GRBs from very distant sources as 'flashlights' to illuminate foreground galaxies and intergalactic medium. The measurements will be used to measure the chemical enrichment of galaxies, and to constrain models of the Epoch of Re-ionization (EoR), which plays a dominant role in cosmological models. The EoR occurred when the universe was only a few hundred million years old, and marks the transition from when the universe's gaseous component changed from mostly neutral to mostly ionized. The researchers will integrate astronomy research into undergraduate courses, train and mentor students and post-doctoral fellows, and conduct public outreach. This work will be accomplished by focusing on three main goals using a variety of telescopes, including the JVLA, CARMA, ALMA, Magellan, Chandra and Gemini. The investigators will: 1) determine the composition of the GRB ejecta (baryonic vs. magnetic) in the first few hours to days after a burst is detected; 2) measure the jet opening angles of short GRBs to determine the energy scale and rate, search for r-process powered counterparts to test models that predict that GRBs are generated from compact object binaries; and 3) use GRB emission to measure galaxy metallicities and reionization at redshifts that are inaccessible to direct observations, and to study the mass-metallicity relation at z = 2 - 5.