marcus said:That is a darn good post. Thank you Laura! Looked at your blog
http://blog.astromiror.org/
studying for quals
Good luck on them!
Amazing workstation specs. did you give it the name Stella?
Like in that old Marlon Brando movie, Streetcar.
or maybe just because it means Star.
If you are at Huntsville you probably know that russian guy who has a blog. He puts up poetry, like Rainer Maria Rilke in translation. I am beginning to be impressed by Huntsville from the people that blog from there.
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Oh, what I had to say: the main thing is you seem to be going to specialize in GRB. It is the most interesting kind of observational astronomy I can think of, if you include IACT like the MAGIC telescope. We can learn a lot from you if you stay around. I'm interested in various approaches to quantum gravity and GRB looks like providing the observations to test theories.
I'm especially interested in GLAST. Lee Smolin has been talking about GLAST a lot for several years, hoping it can help test some quantum gravity models. Maybe your research will involve GLAST data.
It is supposed to be launched by spring 2008, I think. February? March?
By then your quals will be done and maybe you can enjoy the new data coming down. Lucky.
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EDIT: It suddenly dawned on me JONATHAN SWIFT'S good friend Stella. I was sure there was some literary connection but I was yelling up the wrong stairway. I like Swift. he's just about the best until you get to Jane Austen. You should name a computer D'Arcy sometime.
Do we have evidence of two neutron stars orbiting each other, particularly in this galaxy? If so, what is the signature like (period)?The other kind of GRBs (short bursts), which we observe less frequently, are associated with the collisions of compact objects, such as two black holes or two neutron stars. If we know that two compact objects are orbiting each other, getting closer and closer together, and are on a collision course, we can predict when the collision will happen.
We study in detail how the pulse width of gamma-ray bursts is related to energy under the assumption that the sources concerned are in the fireball stage. Due to the Doppler effect of fireballs, there exists a power-law relationship between the two quantities within a limited range of frequency. The power-law range and power-law index depend strongly on the observed peak energy Ep as well as the rest-frame radiation form, and the upper and lower limits of the power-law range can be determined by Ep. It is found that within the same power-law range, the ratio of the FWHM of the rising portion to that of the decaying phase of the pulses is also related to energy in the form of power laws. A plateau/power law/plateau feature is observed in the two relationships. In the case of an obvious softening of the rest-frame spectrum, the two power-law relationships also exist, but the feature evolves to a peaked one. Predictions of the relationships in the energy range covering both the BATSE and Swift bands for a typical hard burst and a typical soft one are made. A sample of FRED (fast rise and exponential decay) pulse bursts shows that 27 out of the 28 sources belong to either the plateau/power law/plateau feature class or to the peaked feature group, suggesting that the effect concerned is indeed important for most of the sources of the sample. Among these bursts, many might undergo an obvious softening evolution of the rest-frame spectrum.
According to the current fireball model, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are produced when a relativistic flow is slowed down via relativistic shocks. At the core of a GRB is a hidden inner engine that accelerates the flow. Since there are no direct observations of the inner engine, its nature is the most mysterious puzzle within the GRB phenomenon. GRB light curves provide the best clues on the nature of this inner engine. Using the variability seen in the majority of the light curves, Fenimore, Madras, & Nayakshin (1996) and Sari & Piran (1997) demonstrated that GRB shocks must be internal. These shocks require a continuous and variable inner engine that operates during the whole duration of the GRB and varies on the observed variability timescale.
A gamma ray burst (GRB) is a sudden, intense burst of high-energy gamma rays that lasts for only a few seconds. It is the most energetic form of electromagnetic radiation in the universe.
Gamma ray bursts travel at the speed of light, which is approximately 186,282 miles per second or 299,792 kilometers per second. This is the fastest speed possible in the universe.
From Earth's perspective, gamma ray bursts typically travel at 99.9999% of the speed of light. This means that it takes about 1.3 seconds for a gamma ray burst to travel from the Moon to Earth.
Scientists use satellite telescopes to detect and measure the arrival time of a gamma ray burst. By comparing the arrival times at different locations, the speed of the burst can be determined.
Gamma ray bursts are believed to be caused by the collapse of massive stars or the merging of two neutron stars. These events release an enormous amount of energy, which accelerates the gamma rays to near the speed of light.