Nat Butler
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract:
In the last several months, the Swift and HETE satellites have detected the first afterglows of short Gamma-ray Bursts. This has facilitated the detections of the GRB host galaxies in a few cases, and has allowed us to infer the energetics and to study the host galaxies. The short GRBs appear to be roughly a thousand times fainter than their long-duration counterparts. They appear to be associated with an older stellar population and, combined with strong limits on the detection of supernova emission in the afterglow lightcurves, this may point toward an origin from compact object mergers. Focusing on the HETE detection of 050709 and the follow up observations of that event, I will discuss these conclusions and the extent to which there appears to be an emerging consensus within the community on the nature and progenitors of short GRBs.