Swift's Scientific Objectives
What are the progenitors of GRBs?
- identify host galaxies uniquely by obtaining arcsecond
positions
- measure redshift distribution to determine energetics,
cosmological evolution, and the GRB luminosity function
- locate GRBs relative to their host galaxies
- constrain the burst environment using X-ray absorption
and optical reddening
- study type Ibc supernova, which are related to some gamma-ray
bursts
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Are there different classes of bursts with different physical processes at work?
- observe hundreds of GRBs and their afterglows
- detect bursts with durations from milliseconds to thousands of seconds
- detect bright and faint bursts
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How does the blast wave evolve and interact with its surroundings?
- perform detailed multiwavelength observations starting
immediately after a burst
- frequently monitor multiwavelength afterglow for days after the
event with high time resolution to detect fluctuations
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What can gamma ray bursts tell us about the early Universe?
- use the optical/X-ray afterglow as high redshift
beacons
- measure the Ly-alpha forest
- use X-ray absorption to probe the intergalactic/cluster
medium
- extend star-formation rate observations to high redshift
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Swift's Secondary Science
- survey the hard X-ray sky to a sensitivity of 0.6 mCrab
at high Galactic latitude and 2 mCrab along the Galactic
plane
- search for obscured Seyfert-2 type AGN, a category of active
galaxies that is largely unstudied but may account for half of
all AGN
- scan half of the sky every day to search for new transient
sources
- obtain ultraviolet lightcurves of supernovae
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