Gamma-Ray Bursts: Physics, Progenitors, and Probes

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Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRB) are intimately linked with the deaths of massive stars and with the birth of black holes. They are also the most distant and luminous objects in the Universe, and some of them are expected to produce gravitational waves that can soon be detected with the NSF-funded Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory. The team will use data obtained with ground-based and space-based telescopes to learn about the explosion physics of GRBs and use GRBs as probes of the early Universe. This project will provide invaluable technical skills to undergraduate and graduate students as well as postdoctoral researchers. The research program will be integrated into an undergraduate course that employs an active learning approach, including an observing trip to the Whipple Observatory. The growing understanding of GRBs will be disseminated via public lectures at the Harvard-Smithsonian Observatory Night program.The research team will obtain and analyze a comprehensive set of multiwavelength observations of GRBs and host galaxies. The goals of this project are (1) to delineate the energy scale, explosion geometry, and true rate of short GRBs; (2) to determine the composition of GRB outflows; and (3) to probe high-redshift galaxies and cosmic reionization. This study will include new data from JVLA, ALMA, and ground-based near-infrared spectrographs, along with relevant archival data sets. The results will be used to constrain theoretical models of GRBs and to probe the intergalactic medium at high redshift. Students and postdocs will lead the acquisition and analysis of data from a variety of sources.