The INTEGRAL view of Gamma-Ray Bursts

TL;DR

INTEGRAL has significantly advanced gamma-ray burst research by detecting numerous sources, expanding our understanding of high-energy phenomena, and providing valuable data for the scientific community over its six-year mission.

Contribution

This paper reviews the major achievements of INTEGRAL in gamma-ray burst observations, highlighting new discoveries and the observatory's impact on high-energy astrophysics.

Findings

Detection of about 700 hard X-ray sources, expanding the high-energy sky view.

Approximately one GRB detected and imaged per month by INTEGRAL.

Increased discoveries of HMXB and AGN, including distant QSOs.

Abstract

After more than six and half years in orbit, the ESA space observatory INTEGRAL has provided new, exciting results in the soft gamma-ray energy range (from a few keV to a few MeV). With the discovery of about 700 hard X-Ray sources, it has changed our previous view of a sky composed of peculiar and ``monster'' sources. The new high energy sky is in fact full of a large variety of normal, very energetic emitters, characterized by new accretion and acceleration processes (see also IBIS cat4, Bird et al. 2009). If compared to previous IBIS/ISGRI surveys it is clear that there is a continual increase in the rate of discoveries of HMXB and AGN, including a variety of distant QSOs. This is basically due to increased exposure away from the Galactic Plane, while the percentage of sources without an identification has remained constant. At the same time, about one GRB/month is detected and imaged by the two main gamma-ray instruments on board: IBIS and SPI. INTEGRAL, after six and half years of observations, has completed the Core Programme phase and is now fully open to the scientific community for Open Time and Key Programme observations, with AO7 recently announced by ESA. In this paper we review the major achievements of the INTEGRAL Observatory in the field of Gamma Ray Bursts.