Gamma-Ray Bursts: Progress, Problems & Prospects
Abstract
Description
The cosmological gamma-ray burst (GRB) phenomenon is reviewed. The broad observational facts and empirical phenomenological relations of the GRB prompt emission and afterglow are outlined. A well-tested, successful fireball shock model is introduced in a pedagogical manner. Several important uncertainties in the current understanding of the phenomenon are reviewed, and prospects of how future experiments and extensive observational and theoretical efforts may address these problems are discussed.
86 pages, 17 figures, 566 references, an invited review for International Journal of Modern Physics A, in press
86 pages, 17 figures, 566 references, an invited review for International Journal of Modern Physics A, in press