Biggest Bangs: The Mystery of Gamma-Ray Bursts, the Most Violent Explosions in the Universe

Jonathan I. Katz0-19-514570-4

Gamma-ray bursts are the most violent events since the birth of the universe. They are about ten times more energetic than the most powerful supernovae. At their peak, gamma-ray bursts are the brightest objects in space, about 100,000 times brighter than an entire galaxy. And yet until recently these titanic eruptions were the most mysterious events in astronomy.In The Biggest Bangs, astrophysicist Jonathan Katz offers a fascinating account of the scientific quest to unravel the mystery of these incredible phenomena. With an eye for colorful detail and a talent for translating scientific jargon into plain English, Katz ranges from the accidental discovery of gamma-ray bursts (by a Cold War satellite system monitoring the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty) to the frustrating but ultimately successful efforts to localize these bursts in distant galaxies. He describes the theories, the equipment (the most recent breakthrough was made with a telescope you could carry under your arm), and the pioneers who have finally begun to explain these strange bursts. And along the way, he offers important lessons about science itself, arguing that “small science” is as valuable as institutionalized “big science,” that observations are more the product of advances in technology than of theory, and that theory is only “the concentrated essence of experiment.With the advent of the space age a mere 40 years ago, we have grown used to strangeness in the universe – and confident in science’s ability to explain it. In The Biggest Bangs, Jonathan Katz shows that there are still wonders out there that exceed the bounds of our imagination and defy our ability to understand them.

---

Table of contents :
Contents……Page 8
Preface……Page 10
Introduction……Page 16
1. Vela……Page 18
2. Detectors……Page 27
3. Where Are They?……Page 36
4. What Are They?……Page 44
5. Compactness……Page 55
6. The Large Magellanic Cloud……Page 65
7. False Lines……Page 75
8. False Light……Page 85
9. The Copernican Dilemma……Page 97
10. Soft Gamma Repeaters……Page 109
11. BATSE……Page 121
12. The Great Debate……Page 131
13. The Theorists’ Turn……Page 141
14. Afterglows……Page 154
15. A Supernova Connection?……Page 167
16. The Holy Grail……Page 177
17. The End of the Beginning……Page 193
Afterword……Page 196
Appendix. Did a Gamma-ray Burst Kill the Dinosaurs? Will a Burst Kill Us?……Page 200
B……Page 204
C……Page 205
F……Page 206
I……Page 207
N……Page 208
Q……Page 209
S……Page 210
X……Page 211
Sources……Page 212
B……Page 224
D……Page 225
F……Page 226
G……Page 227
H……Page 228
M……Page 229
P……Page 230
S……Page 231
Z……Page 233