Speaker
Description
The intrinsic properties of short and long Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs), including their cosmic rates, luminosity functions, and potential evolution with redshift, can be studied by integrating data from large GRB samples collected over the past 50 years. These datasets offer diverse observational constraints, with Swift providing the most extensive sample of GRBs with measured intrinsic properties, enabling more accurate control of selection biases in population studies.
Both direct and indirect methods indicate that long and short GRBs share similar luminosity functions but exhibit distinct cosmic evolution in their volumetric rates. These differences may reflect evolutionary changes in progenitor properties (e.g., jet structure) or delayed mergers relative to the time of binary formation. Present and future observatories designed to detect low-luminosity GRBs and those at the highest redshifts will be pivotal in uncovering new insights into GRB progenitors, jet structures, and emission mechanisms. I will present the state of the art in GRB population studies based on parametric modelling of combined observational properties and discuss how upcoming missions may address outstanding questions in the field.
