Numerical Simulations of Host Galaxies of Gamma-Ray Bursts

Summary

In this project we addresses the nature of host galaxies of gammaray bursts (GRBs) through numerical simulations of galaxy formation. GRBs are the most energetic events in the universe and those longer than about 2 seconds are thought to result from the core collapse and explosion of massive stars [Pir05]. Because of the cosmologically short lifetime of the massive progenitors, GRBs are generally considered to be powerful tracers of the massive star formation history of the universe. They can therefore also be expected to provide useful insights into the understanding of the galaxy formation process. The current interest in GRB research started in 1997 with the discovery of their optical afterglow emission. To date over 40 optical detections have been made, but the number of GRB host galaxy observations is still rather limited with only about 20 positive detections.