Understand
Since the launch of the highly successful and ongoing Swift mission, the field of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) has undergone a revolution.
- The arcsecond GRB localizations available within just a few minutes of the GRB alert has signified the continual sampling of the GRB evolution through the prompt to afterglow phases revealing unexpected flaring and plateau phases, the first detection of a kilonova coincident with a short GRB, and the identification of samples of low-luminosity, ultra-long, and highly dust extinguished GRBs.
- The increased numbers of GRB afterglows, GRB-supernova detections, redshifts, and host galaxy associations has greatly improved our understanding of what produces and powers these immense, cosmological explosions.
- Nevertheless, more high quality data often also reveal greater complexity.