Gamma-ray bursts: a mystery being unraveled
Pawan Kumar (U of Texas, Austin) - Apr 25 at 12:00 noon
Flashes of radiation in gamma-rays are observed once or twice a day
originating from some random part of the sky (and random in time). These
events (explosions) typically last for less than a minute. During this
time the energy radiated in gamma-rays is of order 10^{51} erg or the
kinetic energy release in a typical supernova explosion but about two
orders of magnitude larger than the EM-radiation from a supernova in
a month. Multi-wavelength observations of radiation we receive
following Gamma-ray bursts have greatly advanced our understanding
of these enigmatic explosions. For instance, we now know that gamma-ray
bursts are highly beamed and relativistic explosions. In the last few
years we have seen a number of compelling lines of evidence that at
least a certain fraction of gamma-ray bursts are associated with
the death of massive stars. I will describe recent observations from
Swift and discuss what we have learned about these bursts.
The seminar will be held in 544 Campbell Hall.
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