The understanding of the origin and physics of Gamma-ray bursts, the most luminous explosions known, has rapidly matured in the past decade. GRBs are now poised to inform a variety of modern astrophysical inquiries, from high-mass star formation to accretion physics to cosmology. In this AY 250 seminar class in the UC Berkeley Astronomy Department we will explore the theories and observations of GRBs and their afterglow, explore the connection with supernovae, examine the diversity of the phenomena (like short-hard GRBs and X-ray Flashes), and examine what GRBs can teach us about the universe.

Instructor: Josh Bloom
Location: 501 Campbell Hall, UC Berkeley Astronomy Department
Meeting Time: 10:30 am -- noon Mon/Wed (see Calendar for details)
Grading: 40% Class lectures | 20% Homework | 20% research paper | 20% Participation

Course Format

Lectures

Lectures will be based upon primary literature from published journal articles, submitted texts, and review articles. Each class meeting will be led by a student, the instructor, or guest lecturer. The format of each class is should be considered that of an extended journal club: the lecturer should review the salient material from the texts and provide a cohesive picture of the topic with an organized presentation. The presentation schedule will be assigned by the end of the first week of class, with students getting to rank-order their choice of topics. Students will be expected to have read all the assigned material for the class and are expected to actively participate in discussions. Students are expected to attend each class meeting.

The best student lecturer, deemed as such by the instructor and students, will win registration fees and some travel assistance to attend the 16th Annual October Astrophysics Conference to be held in Washington, D.C. on Nov 29 - Dec 2.

Homework

There will be 2 homework assignments (link to #1 and #2) during the course. Students are expected to complete each assignment.

Research Topic

Each student will be expected to complete a short research paper due at the end of the course in December. The topic is up to the student, but must be approved by the instructor. See Research for topic ideas.