Gamma-Ray Bursts: The Energy Monsters of the Universe

Abstract

Gamma-Ray Bursts(GRBs) are the most violent and energetic astrophysical phenomena, which I dare call “the Energy Monsters of the Universe”. Indeed, they show an enormous emitted isotropic energy ranging from ∼3 × 1046 erg (GRB 170817A) to ∼1055 erg (GRB 221009A) and a duration ranging from ≈milliseconds to ∼104 s. In this review—which I agreed to write as a scientist not directly involved in the field of GRBs—I will present the history of GRBs from the time of their discovery by chance until the new era whose beginning was marked by the detection of gravitational waves coming from the merger of two neutron stars. I will discuss the experimental results and their physical interpretation, which is still a source of heated debate within the scientific community. Due to the reasonable length of this review and especially given my limited knowledge, I do not claim to have exhausted the complicated topic of GRBs, but to have contributed in making this subject easy to read for non-experts, providing a critical contribution that is hopefully useful to the whole community.

Keywords

• gamma-ray bursts
• gravitational waves
• supernovae
• cosmology