Focus on Gamma-Ray Bursts in the Swift Era

Abstract

Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs), the most powerful explosions in nature,were discovered serendipitously nearly 40 years ago, and remained anastronomical curiosity for many years. When their extragalactic originwas established in the 1990s, it became clear that GRBs could offer aunique way to probe relativistic physics in the vicinity of newly formedblack holes and, through their intense afterglow light, provide lighthousesto probe the GRB environments, their host galaxies, and the interveninginterstellar medium. GRBs have thus become probes of the cosmic starformation history and its associated chemical evolution. GRB studies nowconnect with almost all fields of modern astronomy, including stellarevolution, supernovae, compact objects, and cosmology. The launch of theSwift GRB mission on 20 November 2004 has propelled the field into anew era. The impacts of recent discoveries, including x-ray flares,unusually rapid declines in the x-ray emission, late-time flares, thefirst prompt localizations of the short-hard class of GRBs, and highquality NIR-opt-UV spectra of GRBs and their afterglows, are now beingtaken into account in our understanding of the GRB phenomena. Theassociation of long-soft GRBs with Type Ibc supernovae is now firmlyestablished, linking some GRBs to the final stages of massive starevolution.The articles in this Focus Issue in New Journal of Physics describe thescientific advances in GRB research at a time when we have begun to makesense of recent results in the context of knowledge from earlier missions.The contributions to this Focus Issue describe multi-wavelengthsobservations of GRBs, their prompt and afterglow emissions as well astheir host galaxies, the basis of our theoretical understanding of theemission mechanisms and source properties, and multidisciplinaryconnections of GRBs to cosmic rays, astrobiology, neutrinos,and gravitational waves. Our hope is that this Focus Issue will provide areasonably complete overview of the GRB field for perhaps a few years,before new advances require reassessment of this rapidly changing field.The articles below represent the first contributions and further additions will appear.Focus on Gamma-Ray Bursts in the Swift Era ContentsThe electromagnetic model of gamma ray bursts M Lyutikov Gamma-ray bursts and terrestrial planetary atmospheres B C Thomas and A L MelottEarly multi-wavelength emission from gamma-ray bursts: from gamma-ray to x-ray P T O'Brien, R Willingale, J P Osborne and M R GoadUltra-high energy cosmic rays, cascade gamma rays, and high-energy neutrinos from gamma-ray bursts C D Dermer and A AtoyanGamma ray bursts as standard candles to constrain the cosmological parameters G Ghirlanda, G Ghisellini and C FirmaniPolarization in the prompt emission of gamma-ray bursts and their afterglows Davide LazzatiGRBs as cosmological probes—cosmic chemical evolution S SavaglioGRB fireball physics: prompt and early emission D B Fox and P MészárosThe progenitors of short gamma-ray bursts William H Lee and Enrico Ramirez-RuizGamma-ray bursts in the Swift era N Gehrels, J K Cannizzo and J P NorrisDieter H Hartmann, Clemson University, South Carolina, USA Charles D Dermer, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC, USA Jochen Greiner, Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik, Garching, Germany