Theoretical Studies of Gamma-Ray Bursts with Swift
Graduate student L.J. Gou , P. Meszaros, T. Abel and B. Zhang investigated the detectability of long GRB afterglows from very high redshifts, where bright reverse shock emission last longer in the observer frame, and its importance for detection and analysis purposes relative to the forward shock increases. They consider two different models for the GRB environment, based on current ideas about the redshift dependence of gas properties in galaxies and primordial star formation. They calculate the observed flux as a function of the redshift and observer time for typical GRB afterglows, taking into account intergalactic photoionization and Lyman-alpha absorption opacity as well as extinction by the Milky Way Galaxy. The fluxes in the X-ray and near IR bands are compared with the sensitivity of different detectors such as Chandra, Swift and JWST. They find that Chandra and Swift can potentially detect GRBs out to very high redshifts z above 13 and 30, respectively. In the K and M bands, the JWST and ground-based telescopes are potentially able to detect GRBs even one day after the trigger out to z approximately 16 and 33, if present. While the X-ray band is insensitive to the external density and to reverse shocks, the near IR bands provides a sensitive tool for diagnosing both the environment and the reverse shock components.