[48.09] Issues for Consideration in the Swift Era

AAS 202nd Meeting, May 2003
Session 48 Gamma-Ray Bursts in the Swift Era
Topical Oral, Wednesday, May 28, 2003, 2:30-4:00 and 4:15-6:00pm, 205/206

[Previous] | [Session 48] | [Next]

[48.09] Issues for Consideration in the Swift Era

N.M. Lloyd-Ronning (CITA)

The launch of the Swift satellite will begin a new era in the study of Gamma-Ray Bursts. With its superior localization capabilities and on board follow-up program, not only will we obtain redshifts to a large sample of GRBs, but we will have unprecendented spectral coverage of the prompt GRB and early afterglow. In this talk, I will discuss how we can use this information provied by Swift to understand the place of GRBs in our universe. I will highlight particular issues and caveats that must be considered when attempting to use GRBs to make global statements about star formation and other cosmological puzzles. In addition, I will discuss how the spectral information from Swift of the prompt GRB and early afterglow will help constrain some currently poorly understood GRB physics.

[Previous] | [Session 48] | [Next]