Gamma-Ray Bursts: Past, Present, and Future
Tsung-Dao Lee Institute/S4F-SW - Open Area
Tsung-Dao Lee Institute
Host: Darius Modirrousta-Galian
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Abstract: Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the most violent stellar-scale explosions since the Big Bang. Their research has now fully entered the era of multi-messenger astronomy, moving beyond early observations that relied solely on photons. Current in-orbit missions, exemplified by the Einstein Probe (EP) satellite, are systematically revealing the physical connections between GRBs and extragalactic X-ray transients, and are advancing the sub-classification of stellar-scale explosive events. Meanwhile, the coordinated operation of several Chinese space satellites (e.g., SVOM, GECAM), ground-based optical telescopes (e.g., WFST, Mephisto), and the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO) has significantly increased the detection rate of GRB triggers and the quality of multi-wavelength follow-up observations. These efforts provide valuable opportunities for in-depth studies of jet properties and shock physics, for using GRBs as probes in cosmology, and for exploring new physics. This talk will first review the historical development of GRB research. Then, we will present our recent observational understanding of several typical EP sources and multiple GRBs (including twin GRBs and the brightest-of-all-time GRB), revealing the underlying and unified shock physics laws. We will also discuss the prospects of applying these new insights and the corresponding numerical tools to future theoretical modeling of complex GRBs. Finally, we will introduce the prospects of detecting high-redshift GRBs with the EP and SVOM satellites, as well as stringent tests of Lorentz invariance violation based on LHAASO observations of the brightest-of-all-time GRB.
Biography: Lead of the High-Energy Time-Domain Astronomy Group at Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences. PhD Supervisor, School of Astronomy and Space Science, University of Science and Technology of China. He received his B.Sc. (2000) and Ph.D. (2005) in Astronomy from Nanjing University. Subsequently, he conducted research and postdoctoral work at the California Institute of Technology, Pennsylvania State University, and University of Nevada, Las Vegas. His main research focuses on high-energy time-domain astronomy and its applications in cosmology and fundamental physics. He has authored or co-authored about 300 papers in international general and professional journals, with a total of ~20,000 citations and an H-index of 64. His honors include the National Excellent Doctoral Dissertation Award, and his research achievements have been selected four times as one of China's Top Ten Astronomical Advances. He has been the principal investigator of a lot of major grants, including the Excellent Young Scientist Fund, Distinguished Young Scholar Fund, and Innovative Research Group Program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, as well as the SKA Special Project of the Ministry of Science and Technology. He served as Chairman of the Committee on Space Astronomy and High-Energy Astrophysics (14th Council) and now the Executive Member of the Board (15th Council) of the Chinese Astronomical Society.
