Joint UVA/NRAO Colloquium
| Date & Time | Thursday November 19, 2009
4:00-5:00pm |
| Location | NRAO Auditorium |
| Title | Gamma-Ray Bursts: a New Probe of the High-Redshift Universe |
| Speaker | Edo Berger, Harvard University | | Abstract | Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the extremely powerful explosions of the most
massive stars in the universe. Their optical and infrared luminosities
are bright enough to be seen at least to z~10 and they thus provide a
powerful probe of high redshift galaxies and the intergalactic medium.
In this talk I will show that the location of GRBs within the star forming
regions of galaxies affords an in-situ view of metal enrichment across a
wide redshift range. In addition, follow-up observations of the host
galaxies with Spitzer and HST allow us to investigate the galaxy
mass-metallicity relation beyond z~2, and to delineate for the first time
the properties of damped Lyman-alpha absorbers. I will also highlight
some exciting recent results from GRB observations, including a naked-eye
GRB at z~1 and the discovery of the most distant known object in the
universe, a GRB at z~8.3. |
| Additional Information | Coffee will be served at 3:45. |
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