The nature of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and their use as cosmological probes
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Leicester
Department Name: Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
Gamma-ray bursts, usually known as GRBs, were originally discovered in the 1960s by orbiting military satellites, but only in 1997 was the distance to one first measured. To many astronomers' surprise it turned out to be about half way across the observable Universe, which meant that GRBs are by far the most luminous objects known to science. This breakthrough observation was made possible by the first detection of the faint remnant, a so-called afterglow, of the GRB in optical light. GRBs themselves are characterised by the intense bursts of high-energy gamma-rays they produce, which only last typically a few seconds or minutes. By contrast, the afterglows, fade away over a period of days and weeks. Optical detection turned out to be critical because it provided a very accurate position for the GRB, and ultimately a spectroscopic redshift, which astronomers can easily translate into a measurement of distance. Since 1997, further research has shown that GRBs are produced when certain rare kinds of star, much more massive than the Sun, collapse at the end of their lives to form black holes. In the process, by means we still do not understand, jets of material are ejected at velocities very close to the speed of light. These jets are the source of the flashes of gamma-rays we see, and when they crash into the tenuous gas surrounding the star, the afterglow light is produced. My research is aimed at better understanding these astonishing events, and using these ultimate cosmic light-houses to probe the distant regions of the Universe. The next few years promise to be a very exciting time in the GRB field thanks to the imminent launch of a new US/UK/Italian satellite called Swift. This satellite will detect more GRBs than previously, and rapidly transmit their positions to the ground. My own programs are largely concerned with following up these positions, to find and monitor afterglows, and to search for rare exciting types of GRBs. To do this I will use the UK's RoboNet network of three large robotic telescopes sited at various locations around the world. These are ideal for rapid, intensive follow-up of GRB afterglows. I will also make use of other facilities, such as the VLT and Gemini 8m telescopes, the Hubble Space Telescope and other observatories. A particularly exciting possibility is that with Swift we will discovery GRBs at distances greater than any previous galaxy or quasar has been found. Since when we look across the Universe we are looking backward in time, such a discovery would open a new window on the very earliest times, shortly after the Big Bang. At these distances galaxies and even quasars are expected to be rare and faint. GRBs by contrast should be bright enough to detect, and providing we can observe them quickly enough, should provide a great deal of information about the regions they occur in, and the state of matter in the Universe at that time. Another prime goal is to investigate the nature of so-called 'short duration' bursts. These events are very similar to the standard GRBs, but their gamma-ray flashes are briefer, often much less than a second. So far no afterglows have been found for short-duration bursts, so we do not even known how far away they are, let alone what causes them. A favourite idea is that they might be produced when two neutron-stars, extremely dense objects with masses similar to that of the Sun, but sizes only a few miles across, collide and merge with each other releasing enormous reservoirs of energy.
Organisations
- University of Leicester (Fellow, Lead Research Organisation)
- University of California, Berkeley (Collaboration)
- University of Copenhagen (Collaboration)
- Reykjavík University (Collaboration)
- Liverpool John Moores University (Collaboration)
- University of Hertfordshire (Collaboration)
- Space Telescope Science Institute (Collaboration)
- University of Warwick (Collaboration)
- University of Amsterdam (Collaboration)
- University of Bristol (Collaboration)
People |
ORCID iD |
Nial Tanvir (Principal Investigator / Fellow) |
Publications
Bersier D.
(2006)
Evidence for a supernova associated with the X-ray flash 020903
in ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL
Chen H
(2010)
A MATURE DUSTY STAR-FORMING GALAXY HOSTING GRB 080607 AT z = 3.036
in The Astrophysical Journal
Covino S
(2010)
Challenging gamma-ray burst models through the broadband dataset of GRB 060908
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
D'Elia V
(2010)
VLT/X-shooter spectroscopy of the GRB 090926A afterglow
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Kann D
(2010)
THE AFTERGLOWS OF SWIFT -ERA GAMMA-RAY BURSTS. I. COMPARING PRE- SWIFT AND SWIFT -ERA LONG/SOFT (TYPE II) GRB OPTICAL AFTERGLOWS
in The Astrophysical Journal
Levan A. J.
(2006)
The faint afterglow and host galaxy of the short-hard GRB 060121
in ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL
Levan A. J.
(2006)
The first
Swift X-ray flash:: The faint afterglow of XRF 050215B
in ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL
Levan Andrew
(2006)
Infrared and optical observations of GRB 030115 and its extremely red host galaxy:: Implications for dark bursts
in ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL
Pandey S
(2010)
GRB 090902B: AFTERGLOW OBSERVATIONS AND IMPLICATIONS
in The Astrophysical Journal
Perley D
(2011)
MONSTER IN THE DARK: THE ULTRALUMINOUS GRB 080607 AND ITS DUSTY ENVIRONMENT
in The Astronomical Journal
Description | This grant funded research into gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), which are the most luminous objects in the universe. Work done under this award consolidated the evidence that GRBs are extraordinarily violent explosions of massive stars when the reach the ends of their lives. One of the main achievements I made was the discovery of a gamma-ray burst (in April 2009) that still holds the record as the most distant object so far identified, at 13.1 billion light years. The importance of this is that it provides a new window into the formation of early stars and galaxies, in the first few hundred million years after the Big Bang. |
Exploitation Route | GRBs are continuing to shed new light on the early stages of structure formation in the universe. |
Sectors | Education |
URL | http://www.star.le.ac.uk/~nrt3/ |
Description | My findings have been used to provide motivation for new observational programmes and satellite proposals. They have also been used to further our understanding of the universe. |
First Year Of Impact | 2010 |
Sector | Education |
Impact Types | Cultural |
Description | PPARC/STFC Standard grant |
Amount | £261,714 (GBP) |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2007 |
End | 03/2010 |
Description | GRB follow-up collaborations |
Organisation | Liverpool John Moores University |
Department | Astrophysics Research Institute |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | My team has played a leading role in the world-wide GRB follow-up activity, which has been greatly enhanced by collaboration with these many groups. The mutual benefits are access to facilities which one wouldn't otherwise have direct access to, sharing workload during time-critical follow-up periods, scientific cross-fertilisation of ideas. |
Collaborator Contribution | We have collaborated with the Bristol group on observations of very high redshift galaxies, as selected by GRBs. |
Impact | The outputs are largely the scientific papers already listed. In addition, a number of our results have generated media interest. We have supported (in the sense of helping organise, attending and speaking at etc.) meetings amongst the collaborators. These collaborations have also been vital to the work of PhD students at Leicester under my supervision. |
Description | GRB follow-up collaborations |
Organisation | Reykjavík University |
Department | Department of Physics |
Country | Iceland |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | My team has played a leading role in the world-wide GRB follow-up activity, which has been greatly enhanced by collaboration with these many groups. The mutual benefits are access to facilities which one wouldn't otherwise have direct access to, sharing workload during time-critical follow-up periods, scientific cross-fertilisation of ideas. |
Collaborator Contribution | We have collaborated with the Bristol group on observations of very high redshift galaxies, as selected by GRBs. |
Impact | The outputs are largely the scientific papers already listed. In addition, a number of our results have generated media interest. We have supported (in the sense of helping organise, attending and speaking at etc.) meetings amongst the collaborators. These collaborations have also been vital to the work of PhD students at Leicester under my supervision. |
Description | GRB follow-up collaborations |
Organisation | Space Telescope Science Institute |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | My team has played a leading role in the world-wide GRB follow-up activity, which has been greatly enhanced by collaboration with these many groups. The mutual benefits are access to facilities which one wouldn't otherwise have direct access to, sharing workload during time-critical follow-up periods, scientific cross-fertilisation of ideas. |
Collaborator Contribution | We have collaborated with the Bristol group on observations of very high redshift galaxies, as selected by GRBs. |
Impact | The outputs are largely the scientific papers already listed. In addition, a number of our results have generated media interest. We have supported (in the sense of helping organise, attending and speaking at etc.) meetings amongst the collaborators. These collaborations have also been vital to the work of PhD students at Leicester under my supervision. |
Description | GRB follow-up collaborations |
Organisation | University of Amsterdam |
Department | Department of Astrophysics |
Country | Netherlands |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | My team has played a leading role in the world-wide GRB follow-up activity, which has been greatly enhanced by collaboration with these many groups. The mutual benefits are access to facilities which one wouldn't otherwise have direct access to, sharing workload during time-critical follow-up periods, scientific cross-fertilisation of ideas. |
Collaborator Contribution | We have collaborated with the Bristol group on observations of very high redshift galaxies, as selected by GRBs. |
Impact | The outputs are largely the scientific papers already listed. In addition, a number of our results have generated media interest. We have supported (in the sense of helping organise, attending and speaking at etc.) meetings amongst the collaborators. These collaborations have also been vital to the work of PhD students at Leicester under my supervision. |
Description | GRB follow-up collaborations |
Organisation | University of Bristol |
Department | School of Physics |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | My team has played a leading role in the world-wide GRB follow-up activity, which has been greatly enhanced by collaboration with these many groups. The mutual benefits are access to facilities which one wouldn't otherwise have direct access to, sharing workload during time-critical follow-up periods, scientific cross-fertilisation of ideas. |
Collaborator Contribution | We have collaborated with the Bristol group on observations of very high redshift galaxies, as selected by GRBs. |
Impact | The outputs are largely the scientific papers already listed. In addition, a number of our results have generated media interest. We have supported (in the sense of helping organise, attending and speaking at etc.) meetings amongst the collaborators. These collaborations have also been vital to the work of PhD students at Leicester under my supervision. |
Description | GRB follow-up collaborations |
Organisation | University of California, Berkeley |
Department | Department of Astronomy |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | My team has played a leading role in the world-wide GRB follow-up activity, which has been greatly enhanced by collaboration with these many groups. The mutual benefits are access to facilities which one wouldn't otherwise have direct access to, sharing workload during time-critical follow-up periods, scientific cross-fertilisation of ideas. |
Collaborator Contribution | We have collaborated with the Bristol group on observations of very high redshift galaxies, as selected by GRBs. |
Impact | The outputs are largely the scientific papers already listed. In addition, a number of our results have generated media interest. We have supported (in the sense of helping organise, attending and speaking at etc.) meetings amongst the collaborators. These collaborations have also been vital to the work of PhD students at Leicester under my supervision. |
Description | GRB follow-up collaborations |
Organisation | University of Copenhagen |
Department | Dark Cosmology Centre |
Country | Denmark |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | My team has played a leading role in the world-wide GRB follow-up activity, which has been greatly enhanced by collaboration with these many groups. The mutual benefits are access to facilities which one wouldn't otherwise have direct access to, sharing workload during time-critical follow-up periods, scientific cross-fertilisation of ideas. |
Collaborator Contribution | We have collaborated with the Bristol group on observations of very high redshift galaxies, as selected by GRBs. |
Impact | The outputs are largely the scientific papers already listed. In addition, a number of our results have generated media interest. We have supported (in the sense of helping organise, attending and speaking at etc.) meetings amongst the collaborators. These collaborations have also been vital to the work of PhD students at Leicester under my supervision. |
Description | GRB follow-up collaborations |
Organisation | University of Hertfordshire |
Department | School of Physics and Astronomy |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | My team has played a leading role in the world-wide GRB follow-up activity, which has been greatly enhanced by collaboration with these many groups. The mutual benefits are access to facilities which one wouldn't otherwise have direct access to, sharing workload during time-critical follow-up periods, scientific cross-fertilisation of ideas. |
Collaborator Contribution | We have collaborated with the Bristol group on observations of very high redshift galaxies, as selected by GRBs. |
Impact | The outputs are largely the scientific papers already listed. In addition, a number of our results have generated media interest. We have supported (in the sense of helping organise, attending and speaking at etc.) meetings amongst the collaborators. These collaborations have also been vital to the work of PhD students at Leicester under my supervision. |
Description | GRB follow-up collaborations |
Organisation | University of Warwick |
Department | Department of Physics |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | My team has played a leading role in the world-wide GRB follow-up activity, which has been greatly enhanced by collaboration with these many groups. The mutual benefits are access to facilities which one wouldn't otherwise have direct access to, sharing workload during time-critical follow-up periods, scientific cross-fertilisation of ideas. |
Collaborator Contribution | We have collaborated with the Bristol group on observations of very high redshift galaxies, as selected by GRBs. |
Impact | The outputs are largely the scientific papers already listed. In addition, a number of our results have generated media interest. We have supported (in the sense of helping organise, attending and speaking at etc.) meetings amongst the collaborators. These collaborations have also been vital to the work of PhD students at Leicester under my supervision. |
Description | Astronomical Society - Bradford |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Gave a talk on record-breaking GRB 090423. Much discussion. Many questions during talk. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
Description | Astronomical Society - Clacton |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Talk on recent results from HST. Much discussion. Lengthy Question and answer session at end. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2006 |
Description | Astronomical Society - Mexborough and Swinton |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Delivered talk to society on gamma-ray burst results. Generated much discussion. Extensive Q&A |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
Description | Astronomical Society - Stratford |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Talk on the early universe, provoking much discussion. Many questions. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
Description | Go Cosmic - schools event |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Two days spent at a centre in Buxton to which many school parties visited. Did sessions with both primary and secondary children, leaving them with projects to do when they got back to school. I believe the whole scheme was well received, with good reports from many teachers. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
Description | Radio - naked scientists |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Gave radio interview for programme "Naked Scientists". Programme was aired. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
Description | TV - Sky at night 2 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Contributed to BBC TV programme Programme was aired |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2007 |
Description | TV - Wonders of the Universe |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Consulted and gave interviews for BBC documentary "Wonders of the Universe". This resulted in two sets of programmes, one for UK/US and another for other countries. Prime-time TV series with Brian Cox. Apparently well received. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
Description | TV - sky at night |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Contributed to a BBC TV program Program was aired |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2006 |
Description | Talk at 6th form college |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Talk to Physics Club at 6th form college in Cambridge. About 20 students attended. Many questions. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2006 |