Optical observations of afterglows of gamma ray bursts localized by the high energy transient explorer

In this thesis, I discuss observations of the optical afterglows of seven HETE GRBs, carried out mainly with the Magellan Telescopes at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. Five of the bursts, GRBs 020331, 030115, 030418, 030723, and 030725, had optical afterglows. I was able to make detections of all but GRB 030115. GRBs 011212 and 020531 did not have observed afterglows, and with 030115, I can place constraining upperlimits on their optical or near infrared afterglows. For the bursts which were detected, I have constructed light curves from my data and that available from the literature in order to study the nature of these afterglows and compare them to the available theoretical models.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Physics.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2004

Author dc:creator

• Dullighan, Allyn, 1978-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• George Ricker and Saul Rappaport.

• Physics.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/29460

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/29460