Long duration Gamma-Ray Burst Jets
Davide Lazzati (U Colorado, Boulder) - Jan 28, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Thanks to four highly successful missions (BATSE, BeppoSAX,
Hete-2 and Swift), our understanding of long-duration gamma-ray bursts
has vastly improved in the last 15 years. We now know that long GRBs
originate at cosmological distances (up to z>6), involve energies
comparable to supernova explosions, are associated to the death of
massive, rotating stars, and are collimated to several
degrees. Despite that, when we try to build a self-consistent physical
model of a GRB explosion, we encounter many fundamental uncertainties
about the processes that release the energy, regulate its flow, and
produce the radiation we observe. In this talk, I will discuss recent
advances in our understanding of the jets associated with
long-duration bursts. The jet is the fundamental link that connects
the radiation we see with the hidden central engine, whose nature and
physics are still wrapped in mystery. With the aid of
state-of-the-art numerical simulations, I will discuss how the jet is
powered, how it interacts with the progenitor star and how it
radiates. I will conclude by discussing the observational prospects
and upcoming opportunities to determine the properties of the inner
engine experimentally, via panchromatic observations of GRBs and their
afterglows.
The seminar will be held in 544 Campbell Hall.
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