Understanding the Engines and Progenitors of Gamma-Ray Bursts

Understand

Our understanding of the engines and progenitors of gamma-ray bursts has expanded through the ages as a broader set of diagnostics has allowed us to test our understanding of these objects.

• Here we review the history of the growth in our understanding, focusing on 3 leading engines and 9 potential progenitors.
• The first gravitational wave detection of a short burst is the latest in a series of breakthrough observations shaping this understanding and we study the importance of multi-diagnostic, multi-messenger observations on these engines and their progenitors.
• Our understanding based on a detailed study of nearby bursts can be applied to make predictions for the trends expected as we begin to observe high redshift bursts and we discuss these trends.