Swift highlights and flares (Back to the drawing board?)

TL;DR

This paper discusses how Swift's observations of gamma-ray bursts, especially GRB090423 at redshift 8.2, provide insights into the early Universe and the central engine activity behind these phenomena.

Contribution

It presents new observational data from Swift, including an updated catalog of X-ray flares, and analyzes the implications for understanding GRB mechanisms and early cosmic conditions.

Findings

GRB090423 is the most distant celestial object observed to date.

Swift's data reveals detailed properties of early Universe gamma-ray bursts.

Updated X-ray flares catalog enhances understanding of GRB central engine activity.

Abstract

Swift opened up a new era in the study of gamma-ray burst sources (GRB). Among a variety of discoveries made possible by Swift, here we focus on GRB090423, the event at z=8.2 which currently holds the record of the most distant celestial object ever caught by human instrumentation. This GRB allowed us to have a direct look at the early Universe. The central engine activity giving origin to the GRB emission is also discussed starting from the observational findings of an updated GRB X-ray flares catalog.