CRA Seminar - Dr. Colleen Wilson-Hodge

Time Domain Astronomy with the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor in the Multimessenger Era.

Abstract

On August 17, 2017, a new era in astronomy began with the detection of merging neutron stars in gravitational waves by LIGO/Virgo followed 1.7 seconds later by the detection of a short gamma-ray burst (GRB) with Fermi GBM. This short GRB looked quite ordinary in gamma-rays, but was significantly underluminous when compared with other GRBs with known distances. This event has confirmed that short GRBs are produced by merging neutron stars, but has opened many new questions. I will describe several similar events that we have found in the Fermi GBM data. As LIGO/Virgo begins its 3rd observing run, we look forward to the next exciting joint event.

I will end the talk with brief highlights of other transient and variable sources detected with Fermi GBM, such as the first Galactic Ultraluminous X-ray source, Swift J0243.6+6124.

Event Details

Date/Time:

  • Date: 
    Thursday, April 18, 2019 - 3:00pm to 4:00pm

Location:
Boggs Building 1-44 Vizlab

For More Information Contact

Professor Deirdre Shoemaker