Speaker
Description
Long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are among the most powerful explosions in the Universe, marking the catastrophic death of a massive star and the birth of a spinning, stellar mass black hole. This central engine launches two jets of ionised matter which eventually interact with the circum-burst medium through external shocks, producing the so called afterglow phase. Radio observations, particularly with the very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) technique, are fundamental to measure the apparent superluminal expansion (on-axis GRB) and proper motion (off-axis GRB) of the GRB outflow, to constrain its structure and to characterise the circum-burst medium. In this talk, I will review the contributions of VLBI to GRB studies, focusing on GRB030329A, GRB170817A and GRB221009A. While VLBI has already proven fundamental, constraining the blast wave geometry and the viewing angle remains extremely challenging with current instruments, even in the most favourable cases. The advent of the SKA, with its unprecedented sensitivity, has the potential to be a game changer. I will discuss the expected impact of combining the SKA with VLBI in future GRB studies, based on simulated observations of various GRB scenarios.
| Topics | Transients & GW follow-up |
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