Properties of High-Redshift GRBs

TL;DR

This paper models how properties of long-duration gamma-ray bursts evolve with redshift, using the black-hole accretion disk paradigm, to aid in understanding early universe star formation and metallicity evolution.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed model of high-redshift GRB properties based on metallicity and mass dependence, calibrated with current data, and predicts their evolution for future observations.

Findings

Models predict increasing GRB rate with redshift.

Metallicity influences GRB luminosity and duration.

Future missions can test these predictions.

Abstract

The immense power of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) make them ideal probes of the early universe. By using absorption lines in the afterglows of high-redshift GRBs, astronomers can study the evolution of metals in the early universe. With an understanding of the nature of GRB progenitors, the rate and properties of GRBs observed at high redshift can probe the star formation history and the initial mass function of stars at high redshift. This paper presents a detailed study of the metallicity- and mass-dependence of the properties of long-duration GRBs under the black-hole accretion disk paradigm to predict the evolution of these properties with redshift. These models are calibrated on the current GRB observations and then used to make predictions for new observations and new missions (e.g. the proposed Gamow mission) studying high-redshift GRBs.