Speaker
Description
With gamma-ray burst (GRB) observations by Swift, Fermi, and HETE-2 and their follow-up observations at other wavelengths, we have made substantial progress in the understanding of their progenitors, physical properties of ultra-relativistic jets, and the emission mechanisms. However, our understanding short GRBs in particular, remains incomplete. New observational probes such as detections of gravitational wave counterparts will provide important new constraints.
We will present the current status of a feasibility study for a fleet of nano-satellites to perform an all sky monitoring and timing based localisation of GRBs. The fleet of about dozen satellites of the CubeSat standard, equipped with scintillator based soft gamma-ray detectors and GPS receivers for time synchronisation, will measure the time difference between the arrival of the gamma-ray signal at the different satellites. Based on the precise timing and the in-orbit positions of the satellites, the location of the source in the sky will be determined by triangulation. The satellites will downlink data about the detected GRBs within minutes, enabling rapid follow-up observations at other wavelengths and providing an opportunity to detect the electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational waves (GW).
