0000000000300847
AUTHOR
M. Della Valle
Swift observations of GRB 060614: an anomalous burst with a well behaved afterglow
GRB 060614 is a remarkable GRB observed by Swift with puzzling properties, which challenge current progenitor models. The lack of any bright SN down to very strict limits and the vanishing spectral lags are typical of short GRBs, strikingly at odds with the long (102s) duration of this event. Here we present spectral and temporal analysis of the Swift observations. We show that the burst presents standard optical, UV and X-ray afterglows. An achromatic break is observed simultaneously in optical and X-rays, at a time consistent with the break in the R-band light curve measured by the VLT. The achromatic behaviour and the consistent post-break decay slopes make GRB 060614 one of the best exa…
GrailQuest: hunting for atoms of space and time hidden in the wrinkle of Space-Time: A swarm of nano/micro/small-satellites to probe the ultimate structure of Space-Time and to provide an all-sky monitor to study high-energy astrophysics phenomena
AbstractGrailQuest(Gamma Ray Astronomy International Laboratory for QUantum Exploration of Space-Time) is a mission concept based on a constellation (hundreds/thousands) of nano/micro/small-satellites in low (or near) Earth orbits. Each satellite hosts a non-collimated array of scintillator crystals coupled with Silicon Drift Detectors with broad energy band coverage (keV-MeV range) and excellent temporal resolution (≤ 100 nanoseconds) each with effective area$\sim 100 \text {cm}^{2}$∼100cm2. This simple and robust design allows for mass-production of the satellites of the fleet. This revolutionary approach implies a huge reduction of costs, flexibility in the segmented launching strategy, …
Time domain astronomy with the THESEUS satellite
THESEUS is a medium size space mission of the European Space Agency, currently under evaluation for a possible launch in 2032. Its main objectives are to investigate the early Universe through the observation of gamma-ray bursts and to study the gravitational waves electromagnetic counterparts and neutrino events. On the other hand, its instruments, which include a wide field of view X-ray (0.3-5 keV) telescope based on lobster-eye focussing optics and a gamma-ray spectrometer with imaging capabilities in the 2-150 keV range, are also ideal for carrying out unprecedented studies in time domain astrophysics. In addition, the presence onboard of a 70 cm near infrared telescope will allow simu…
A deep study of the high–energy transient sky
This is an open access article. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds t…
Sensitivity of the Cherenkov Telescope Array to a dark matter signal from the Galactic centre
Full list of authors: Acharyya, A.; Adam, R.; Adams, C.; Agudo, I.; Aguirre-Santaella, A.; Alfaro, R.; Alfaro, J.; Alispach, C.; Aloisio, R.; Alves Batista, R.; Amati, L.; Ambrosi, G.; Angüner, E. O.; Antonelli, L. A.; Aramo, C.; Araudo, A.; Armstrong, T.; Arqueros, F.; Asano, K.; Ascasíbar, Y. Ashley, M.; Balazs, C.; Ballester, O.; Baquero Larriva, A.; Barbosa Martins, V.; Barkov, M.; Barres de Almeida, U.; Barrio, J. A.; Bastieri, D.; Becerra, J.; Beck, G.; Becker Tjus, J.; Benbow, W.; Benito, M.; Berge, D.; Bernardini, E.; Bernlöhr, K.; Berti, A.; Bertucci, B.; Beshley, V.; Biasuzzi, B.; Biland, A.; Bissaldi, E.; Biteau, J.; Blanch, O.; Blazek, J.; Bocchino, F.; Boisson, C.; Bonneau Arbe…
GRB 050904 at redshift 6.3: observations of the oldest cosmic explosion after the Big Bang
We present optical and near-infrared observations of the afterglow of the gamma-ray burst GRB 050904. We derive a photometric redshift z = 6.3, estimated from the presence of the Lyman break falling between the I and J filters. This is by far the most distant GRB known to date. Its isotropic-equivalent energy is 3.4x10^53 erg in the rest-frame 110-1100 keV energy band. Despite the high redshift, both the prompt and the afterglow emission are not peculiar with respect to other GRBs. We find a break in the J-band light curve at t_b = 2.6 +- 1.0 d (observer frame). If we assume this is the jet break, we derive a beaming-corrected energy E_gamma = (4-12)x10^51 erg. This limit shows that GRB 050…
The THESEUS space mission concept: science case, design and expected performances
THESEUS is a space mission concept aimed at exploiting Gamma-Ray Bursts for investigating the early Universe and at providing a substantial advancement of multi-messenger and time-domain astrophysics. These goals will be achieved through a unique combination of instruments allowing GRB and X-ray transient detection over a broad field of view (more than 1sr) with 0.5¿1 arcmin localization, an energy band extending from several MeV down to 0.3¿keV and high sensitivity to transient sources in the soft X-ray domain, as well as on-board prompt (few minutes) follow-up with a 0.7¿m class IR telescope with both imaging and spectroscopic capabilities. THESEUS will be perfectly suited for addressing …