Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 December 2012
Introduction
The observations of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) with the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory/Burst and Transient Source Experiment (CGRO/BATSE; see Chapter 3) pointed toward an extragalactic origin of GRBs; however, a direct measurement of the distance was still missing. Faster and much more precise positions were needed to find the counterparts at other wavelengths, the “Holy Grail” of GRB scientists. However, whether any “remnant” (afterglow) emission actually followed the GRB was unknown. A number of breakthrough discoveries were enabled by the launch of BeppoSAX in 1996. The fundamental questions about the nature of GRBs addressed with BeppoSAX and their implications, can be summarized as follows:
Where are GRBs located? – distance-scale measurement; properties of the host galaxy; properties of the GRB formation site.
What is the source of the GRB energy? – nature of their progenitors; how the progenitors produce the initial GRB energy (collapsars or mergers?).
How is this energy transformed into radiation?
BeppoSAX
BeppoSAX was an Italian X-ray satellite with Dutch participation, nicknamed Beppo after the physicist Giuseppe “Beppo” Occhialini (Piro et al. 1995a, Boella et al. 1997a). One of the key science goals of BeppoSAX was the study of transient sources in the sky, including GRBs. Scientific instruments and ground operations were specifically designed to search for transient events over wide areas of the sky, and to follow up their detection with fast observations using sensitive X-ray telescopes.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.