The Gamma Ray Bursts GRB970228 and GRB970508: What Have We Learnt?

Abstract

We examine what we regard as key observational results on GRB 970228 and GRB 970508 and show that the accumulated evidence strongly suggests that gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are cosmological fireballs. We further show that the observations suggest that GRBs are not associated with the nuclear activity of active galactic nuclei, and that late-type galaxies are more prolific producers of GRBs. We suggest that GRBs can be used to trace the cosmic history of the star-formation rate. Finally, we show that the GRB locations with respect to the star-forming regions in their host galaxies and the total burst energies can be used to distinguish between different theoretical models for GRBs.

7 pages (with 2 embedded figures), to be published in the Proceedings of the Fourth Huntsville Gamma-Ray Burst Symposium, held Sep 15-20, 1997, Huntsville, Alabama