Issue |
EAS Publications Series
Volume 61, 2013
Gamma-ray Bursts: 15 Years of GRB Afterglows – Progenitors, Environments and Host Galaxies from the Nearby to the Early Universe
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Page(s) | 501 - 515 | |
Section | Chapter XI: Instrumentation & Techniques-II (Lomonosov/UFFO) | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/eas/1361083 | |
Published online | 22 July 2013 |
A.J. Castro-Tirado, J.Gorosabel and I.H. Park (eds)
EAS Publications Series, 61 (2013) 501-515
Ultra-Fast Flash Observatory: Fast Response Space Missions for Early Time Phase of Gamma Ray Bursts
1 Department of Physics, Sungkyunkwan
University, Seobu-ro
2066, Suwonsi,
440-746,
Korea
2 LAL, University of Paris-Sud
11, Orsay,
France
3 National Space Institute
Astrophysics, Technical University of Denmark, 2800
Kgs. Lyngby,
Denmark
4 Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia
(IAA-CSIC), PO Box
03004, 18080
Granada,
Spain
5 Department of Physics, National
Taiwan University, 1 Roosevelt Road, Taipei, 106,
Taiwan
6 Korea Advanced Institute of Science
and Technology, 291 Daehak-ro,
Yuseong-gu, Daejeon
305-701,
Korea
7 Universidad de
Valencia, GACE, Edif. de Centros de
Investigacion, Burjassot, 46100
Valencia,
Spain
8 Space Sciences Laboratory, University
of California at Berkeley, USA
9 Department of Energy Engineering,
National United University, 1, Lienda, Miaoli, Taiwan, 36003
10 Department of Physics, Ewha Womans
University, 11-1
Daehyun-dong, Seoul
120-750,
Korea
11 Department of Astronomy, Yonsei
University, 134
Shinchon-dong, Seoul
120-749
12 Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear
Physics of Lomonosov, Moscow State University, Leninskie Gory, 119234,
Russia
13 Institute for the Early Universe,
Ewha Womans University, 11-1
Daehyun-dong, Seoul
120-750,
Korea
One of the unexplored domains in the study of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) is the early time phase of the optical light curve. We have proposed Ultra-Fast Flash Observatory (UFFO) to address this question through extraordinary opportunities presented by a series of small space missions. The UFFO is equipped with a fast-response Slewing Mirror Telescope that uses a rapidly moving mirror or mirror array to redirect the optical beam rather than slewing the entire spacecraft or telescope to aim the optical instrument at the GRB position. The UFFO will probe the early optical rise of GRBs with sub-second response, for the first time, opening a completely new frontier in GRB and transient studies. Its fast response measurements of the optical emission of dozens of GRB each year will provide unique probes of the burst mechanism and test the prospect of GRB as a new standard candle, potentially opening up the z > 10 universe. We describe the current limit in early photon measurements, the aspects of early photon physics, our soon-to-be-launched UFFO-pathfinder mission, and our next planned mission, the UFFO-100.
© EAS, EDP Sciences 2013