Gravitational wave: gamma-ray burst connections

Abstract

After 35 years of experimental research, we are rapidly approaching the point at which gravitational waves (GWs) from astrophysical sources may be directly detected by the long-baseline detectors LIGO (USA), GEO 600 (Germany/UK), VIRGO (Italy/France) and TAMA 300 (Japan), which are now in or coming into operation.A promising source of GWs is the coalescence of compact binary systems, events which are now believed to be the origin of short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs).In this paper, a brief review of the state of the art in detector development and exploitation will be given, with particular relevance to a search for signals associated with GRBs, and plans for the future will be discussed.

Introduction: recent developments in the study of gamma-ray bursts

“…The effect of these discoveries has been to strongly favour the compact object merger model for short bursts. The observed properties point to coalescence of a compact-object binary, either neutron star-neutron star or neutron star-black hole (King 2007) and enabling the prospects for gravitational wave detection to be reassessed, as discussed at this meeting by Hough (2007).…”

“…Prospects for GRB detections in other energy regimes were reviewed by Chadwick (2007) (very high energy gamma-ray detections), Hough (2007) (gravitational wave detections) and Waxman (2007) (neutrino detections). These contributions, together with the review by Piro (2007) of new ground-and space-based facilities (GLAST, AGILE, JWST, LOFAR, ALMA) that will become operational within the next few years, emphasize the prospect of detection of unambiguous and direct signatures of the formation of the central engine of GRBs and of the importance of multi-messenger astrophysics in achieving further advancement in the understanding of GRBs.…”

The future of GRB investigation from ground and space

“…In the first part of the paper, I will give a brief overview on future experiments and facilities relevant to the GRB science. I will focus mostly on the classical electromagnetic domain, given that neutrino, VHE, GW have been summarized in this colloquium by Waxman (2007), Chadwick (2007) and Hough (2007), respectively. Throughout the paper, main emphasis is given to the future perspectives of GRB in cosmology that will be the explicit subject of the second part of the paper.…”