Ask an Astronomer - Gamma Ray Bursts: The enigmatic cosmic explosions

Ask an Astronomer Time: Oct 13, 2021 05:00 PM India Speaker: Prof Kuntal Misra Title: Gamma Ray Bursts: The enigmatic cosmic explosions Abstract: Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) are one of the enigmatic cosmic explosions, releasing huge amount of energy, observed in the Universe. The observed GRBs so far are located at redshifts between 0.008 to 9.4. They are predominantly classified into two categories the long and short duration bursts. The two populations of GRBs hints toward different progenitor channels. The long GRBs arise from the collapse of massive stars and short GRBs are thought to be coming from the merger of two compact objects which has been recently established with the coincident discovery of Gravitational Wave event and a short GRB. I will give an overview of these energetic cosmic transients and some of the milestones achieved in this area of research.