PHYSICS SEMINAR
Inspecting the Homes of Short Gamma-ray Bursts:
A Detailed Study of their Local and Galactic-scale Environments
Wen-fai Fong, Ph.D. candidate
Department of Astronomy
Harvard University
Friday, October 19, 2012
1:30 p.m.
Hamilton 301
Abstract
While the progenitor of long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs; duration > 2 sec) is widely accepted as the collapse of a massive star, the progenitors of short GRBs (duration < 2 sec) are not well understood. With potential gravitational wave detections a few years out, observations of short GRB local and galactic-scale environments currently provide the most direct probe into the nature of their progenitors. Here, I present the demographics of short GRB environments in terms of host morphologies and burst locations with respect to their host galaxies. I will show that short GRBs not only originate from a diverse population of hosts, but also that ~1/4 of well-localized bursts have no coincident host galaxies down to deep optical limits.These observations provide key information about the types of stellar populations from which these events originate, and are consistent with expectations for a binary compact object progenitor system (NS-NS/NS-BH).
Coffee and cookies will be served at 1:15 p.m.
