Gamma-ray Bursts

A comprehensive graduate-level review of GRB astrophysics and its history, featuring the latest research by an international team of experts.

Chryssa Kouveliotou (Edited by), Ralph A. M. J. Wijers (Edited by), Stan Woosley (Edited by)

9780521662093, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 22 November 2012

358 pages, 113 b/w illus. 9 colour illus. 8 tables
25.2 x 17.9 x 2 cm, 0.87 kg

'… the editors and authors are to be congratulated at managing to squeeze so much into a modest-sized volume. … I strongly recommend it to anyone interested in how the most luminous objects in the Universe work.' The Observatory

Cosmic gamma ray bursts (GRBs) have fascinated scientists and the public alike since their discovery in the late 1960s. Their story is told here by some of the scientists who participated in their discovery and, after many decades of false starts, solved the problem of their origin. Fourteen chapters by active researchers in the field present a detailed history of the discovery, a comprehensive theoretical description of GRB central engine and emission models, a discussion of GRB host galaxies and a guide to how GRBs can be used as cosmological tools. Observations are grouped into three sets from the satellites CGRO, BeppoSAX and Swift, and followed by a discussion of multi-wavelength observations. This is the first edited volume on GRB astrophysics that presents a fully comprehensive review of the subject. Utilizing the latest research, Gamma-ray Bursts is an essential desktop companion for graduate students and researchers in astrophysics.

Prologue C. Kouveliotou, R. A . M. J. Wijers and S. E. Woosley
1. The discovery of the gamma-ray burst phenomenon R. W. Klebesadel
2. Instrumental principles E. E. Fenimore
3. The BATSE era G. J. Fishman and C. A. Meegan
4. The cosmological era L. Piro and K. Hurley
5. The Swift era N. Gehrels and D. N. Burrows
6. Discoveries enabled by multi-wavelength afterglow observations of gamma-ray bursts J. Greiner
7. Prompt emission from gamma-ray bursts T. Piran, R. Sari and R. Mochkovitch
8. Basic gamma-ray burst afterglows P. Mészáros and R. A. M. J. Wijers
9. The GRB-supernova connection J. Hjorth and J. S. Bloom
10. Models for gamma-ray burst progenitors and central engines S. E. Woosley
11. Jets and gamma-ray burst unification schemes J. Granot and E. Ramirez-Ruiz
12. High-energy cosmic rays and neutrinos E. Waxman
13. Long gamma-ray burst host galaxies and their environments J. P. U. Fynbo, D. Malesani and P. Jakobsson
14. Gamma-ray burst cosmology V. Bromm and A. Loeb
15. Epilogue R. D. Blandford
Index.

Subject Areas: Physics [PH], Cosmology & the universe [PGK], Astronomy, space & time [PG], Mathematics & science [P]