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) | 633 - 637 | |
Section | Chapter XIII: Instrumentation & Techniques-III Future Projects | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/eas/1361100 | |
Published online | 22 July 2013 |
A.J. Castro-Tirado, J.Gorosabel and I.H. Park (eds)
EAS Publications Series, 61 (2013) 633-637
Feasibility of a Small, Rapid Optical/IR Response, Next Generation Gamma-Ray Burst Mission
1 Extreme Universe Laboratory, Moscow State University, Russian
Federation
2 University of California at Berkeley Space Sciences
Laboratory, USA
3 Moscow State University, Russian Federation
4 University of California at Berkeley, USA
We present motivations for and study feasibility of a small, rapid-optical/IR response gamma-ray burst (GRB) space observatory. By analyzing existing GRB data, we give realistic detection rates for X-ray and optical/IR instruments of modest size under actual flight conditions. Given new capabilities of fast optical/IR response (~1 s to target) and simultaneous multi-band imaging, such an observatory can have a reasonable event rate, likely leading to new science. Requiring a Swift-like orbit, duty cycle, and observing constraints, a Swift-BAT scaled down to 190 cm2 of detector area would still detect and locate about 25 GRB yr-1 for a trigger threshold of 6.5σ. About 23% of X–ray located GRB would be detected optically for a 10 cm diameter instrument (~6 yr-1 for the 6.5σ X-ray trigger).
© EAS, EDP Sciences 2013