PROMPT Phase II: Gamma-Ray Bursts as Probes

建议：AST-0440793主要研究者：丹尼尔·赖哈特机构：北卡罗来纳州教堂山大学标题：PROMPT第二阶段：伽玛射线暴的可能性摘要：PROMPT是一项仪器采购计划，它将使查佩尔山的北卡罗来纳州大学能够探测伽玛射线暴的物理、环境和多样性，并利用它们以新的、强有力的方式探测早期宇宙。 与此同时，PROMPT将成为北卡罗来纳州查佩尔山大学和北卡罗来纳州拥有天文学家或对天文学感兴趣的每一所本科院校之间的共享资源，包括历史上的非洲裔美国人和美洲原住民机构，以及整个天文学界。过去七年来对伽马射线暴及其环境的观测强烈表明，至少长持续时间/软谱伽马射线暴是大质量恒星的死亡呐喊和黑洞的诞生呐喊。 超过30个这样的天体已经被测量到红移，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爆炸，比超新星高出6到9个数量级。 考虑到爆发后最初几秒和几分钟内光学/近红外余辉的潜在极端亮度，对爆发余辉的快速多波段和光谱观测不仅使天文学家能够以新的强大方式探测伽马射线爆发的物理，环境和多样性，而且也被广泛期待成为早期宇宙的下一个伟大探测器。PROMPT将由六个0.4米直径的望远镜组成，这些望远镜安装在快速旋转的支架上，可以在卫星通知的几秒钟内自动成像伽马射线爆发的余辉。 PROMPT将在三个方面不同于已经和正在建造的用于研究伽马射线爆发的机器人望远镜：（1）除了自动识别卫星提供的误差区域内的余辉并在光学和近红外波长进行测量外，PROMPT具有七个波段的光谱覆盖范围和四个照相机，将自动估计红移的爆发从莱曼α和莱曼极限辍学和消光曲线沿着视线内的爆发分钟;（2）PROMPT将测量早期余辉的偏振历史;（3）PROMPT将与大型望远镜配对，4.1-位于Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory的直径30米的SOAR望远镜，特别适合于用光学和光学技术跟踪PROMPT余辉，在类似的快速时间尺度上的NIR光谱： PROMPT将利用SOAR成为一个更强大的设施，可能是世界上最好的用伽马射线爆发探测早期宇宙的设施。更广泛的影响：除了主要由北卡罗来纳州查佩尔山大学天文学研究生和本科生建造和远程管理的PROMPT，以及主要由查佩尔山学生进行的GRB科学外，PROMPT将通过北卡罗来纳州的研究更广泛地影响教育：由于伽马射线爆发所需的时间不超过PROMPT的50%，北卡罗来纳州查佩尔山大学将与北卡罗来纳州的每一个本科院校分享这一资源，与天文学家或对天文学感兴趣，包括三个历史上属于少数民族的机构（约占PROMPT时间的20%），与查佩尔山的莫尔黑德天文馆和科学中心合作，该中心已经在为PROMPT设计广泛的K-12计划，由NASA/STScI IDEAS资助（大约10%的PROMPT的时间），并通过同行评估过程更广泛的天文学界（大约10%的PROMPT的时间）。 剩下的10%的时间将用于查佩尔山的非GRB科学。 此外，PI和合作者将通过伽马射线暴坐标网络以类似的快速时标向更广泛的伽马射线暴社区分发余辉天体测量、初步测光、时间和光谱信息以及PROMPT将在真实的时间内计算的近似红移和消光曲线。该奖项由天文科学司和多学科活动办公室共同资助。

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.