Affiliation:
1. Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University525 Davey Laboratory, University Park, PA 16802, USA
Abstract
We review recent observations of short-hard gamma-ray bursts and their afterglows. The launch and successful ongoing operations of the Swift satellite, along with several localizations from the
High-Energy Transient Explorer
mission, have provoked a revolution in short-burst studies: first, by quickly providing high-quality positions to observers; and second, via rapid and sustained observations from the Swift satellite itself. We make a complete accounting of Swift-era short-burst localizations and proposed host galaxies, and discuss the implications of these observations for the distances, energetics and environments of short bursts, and the nature of their progenitors. We then review the physical modelling of short-burst afterglows: while the simplest afterglow models are inadequate to explain the observations, there have been several notable successes. Finally, we address the case of an unusual burst that threatens to upset the simple picture in which long bursts are due to the deaths of massive stars, and short bursts to compact-object merger events.
Subject
General Physics and Astronomy,General Engineering,General Mathematics
Cited by
4 articles.
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1. Reflections on Swift from the early years;Journal of High Energy Astrophysics;2015-09
2. QUARK-NOVAE IN LOW-MASS X-RAY BINARIES WITH MASSIVE NEUTRON STARS: A UNIVERSAL MODEL FOR SHORT-HARD GAMMA-RAY BURSTS;The Astrophysical Journal;2011-02-09
3. Gamma-Ray Bursts in the Swift Era;Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics;2009-09-01
4. Introduction: recent developments in the study of gamma-ray bursts;Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences;2007-02-09