Radio Afterglows in the GLAST Era

F. Harrison, B. Cenko
(Space Radiation Lab, 220-47, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125)
S. Kulkarni, Eran Ofek
(Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy, 105-24, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125)
D. A. Frail, P. Chandra
(National Radio Astronomy Observatory P.O. Box 0, Socorro, NM 87801)
D. Fox
(Astronomy & Astrophysics, Penn State, 425 Davey Lab University Park, PA 16802)
E. Berger
(Carnegie Observatories, 813 Santa Barbara St., Pasadena, CA 91101)

Abstract: We now know that long duration GRBs are the deaths of certain types of massive stars and that short duration arise in both elliptical and star forming galaxies. This dramatic progress has mainly resulted from afterglow studies and macroscopic clues such as the circumburst medium and the type (morphology) of the host galaxies. However, there are a number of open issues regarding the central engine for both types of bursts. A magnetar model most naturally explains the sustained activity seen in some bursts. However, the emergence of a sub-class of bursts with energy of 10^52 erg challenges this model. In our opinion, the energetics of GRBs continues to be a fruitful area of inquiry. Obtaining true energetics requires measuring the true broad-band spectrum of GRBs (from keV to GeVs), undertaking afterglow observations (to determine opening angles) and finally late time calorimetry. The latter two benefit and require radio observations, respectively. The successful launch of Agile and the imminent launch of GLAST makes the proposed program timely. Here we propose a comprehensive program investigations of likely super-energetic bursts and the nearest burst(s) and a continued program of radio investigations of short bursts.

This is the homepage of a long-standing project to detect and study radio afterglows with the Very Large Array (VLA). The current project has been grated time to run simultaneously with the NASA GLAST mission. The principal data products from this project will be radio light curves for well-localized GRBs.

We request that researchers using this data in their work quote, whenever possible, the original references listed in the tables. Papers written using data taken with NRAO facilities are required to include the following footnote:
The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.

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    Last updated February 2008