The Gamma-Ray Burst - Supernova Connection

Understand

A preponderance of evidence links long-duration, soft-spectrum gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) with the death of massive stars.

• The observations of the GRB-supernova (SN) connection present the most direct evidence of this physical link.
• We summarize 30 GRB-SN associations and focus on five ironclad cases, highlighting the subsequent insight into the progenitors enabled by detailed observations.
• We also address the SN association (or lack thereof) with several sub-classes of GRBs, finding that the X-ray Flash (XRF) population is likely associated with massive stellar death whereas short-duration events likely arise from an older population not readily capable of producing a SN concurrent with a GRB.