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Hsiao-Wen Chen (MIT) Josh Bloom (Harvard-Smithsonian) Jason X. Prochaska (Lick Observatory). 236 GRBs over 7 years. The Swift Gamma-ray Burst Mission Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) : 4 arcmin error radius X-ray Telescope (XRT): 5 arcsec accuracy UV/Optical Telescope (UVOT):
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Hsiao-Wen Chen (MIT) Josh Bloom (Harvard-Smithsonian) Jason X. Prochaska (Lick Observatory)
The Swift Gamma-ray Burst Mission • Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) : • 4 arcmin error radius • X-ray Telescope (XRT): • 5 arcsec accuracy • UV/Optical Telescope (UVOT): • < 2 arcsec
Barth et al. (2003) Rapid spectroscopic follow-up with R > 6000
LBQS0058+0155 zDLA=0.613 • GRAASP Science: • Probe the reionization epoch: • 5% of Swift GRBs expected at z > 6
LBQS0058+0155 zDLA=0.613 • GRAASP Science: • Probe the reionization epoch: • 5% of Swift GRBs expected at z > 6 • Unmask damped Lya absorbing • galaxies
GRAASP Science: • Probe the reionization epoch: • 5% of Swift GRBs expected at z > 6 • Unmask damped Lya absorbing • galaxies • Study the chemical abundances • of the ISM of the GRB hosts
GRAASP telescope/funding resources so far : • UC/Keck TOO time: 16 hours per semester • TOO at Lick Observatory • TOO on Gemini N/S: 20 hours per semester • PAIRITEL: dedicated 1.3-m IR imaging telescope on Mt. Hopkins • Swift cycle 1 guest investigator program: $35 k
GRAASP Alert System: http://www.graasp.org/
Broader interests/participation in the Magellan community? • Rapid, efficient, organized follow-up program of all Swift GRBs. • Multiple connections to community interests (e.g. supernovae, IGM, etc.)---potential key-project material to foster inter-institution collaboration. • Public data archive to provide instant access of the program data to all Magellan members
Issues: • Conflict of interests among individuals and time share between different partners? • Insurance of the vitality and productiveness of the project. • Features of GRAASP: • Automated alerts • Existing funding to build data archive • Data reduction pipeline for fast and uniform data processing.
Summary: • Rapid spectroscopic follow-up of Swift GRBs on • Magellan; unique data for non-GRB sciences • GRAASP alert script already running on • all Magellan observers computers • Maximal science return, minimal hurdle • for Magellan observers • Logistical issues: observation setup, time share, etc.