Exploring Gamma-Ray Bursts, Their Immediate Environment and Host Galaxies

Lasting anywhere from a few milliseconds to several minutes, GRBs shine hundreds of times brighter than a typical supernova, making them briefly the brightest source of cosmic gamma-ray photons in the observable Universe. This thesis focuses on 3 different aspects of GRBs: (1) The radiative mechanis...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Friis, Mette
Format: Report
Language:unknown
Published: arXiv 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:https://dx.doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1512.03205
https://arxiv.org/abs/1512.03205
Description
Summary:Lasting anywhere from a few milliseconds to several minutes, GRBs shine hundreds of times brighter than a typical supernova, making them briefly the brightest source of cosmic gamma-ray photons in the observable Universe. This thesis focuses on 3 different aspects of GRBs: (1) The radiative mechanism of GRBs and their afterglows, i.e. the occurrence of thermal emission and the physical parameters we can determine through this emission. (2) Their host galaxies, using results from observations of GRB 121024A as a case study. (3) How they can be used to answer some of the larger astrophysical questions, more specifically in this case, to study interstellar dust and grey extinction. : PhD dissertation, University of Iceland, Reykjav\'ik, October 2015