Department of Physics


Department of Physics Apple - Gravity

Phone (701) 231-8974, fax (701) 231-7088


Seminar Abstract

November 10, 2004:

"Gamma Ray Bursts"

Professor Timothy Young
Department of Physics
University of North Dakota

In 1998 a star exploded, SN 1998bw. It was one of the largest explosions seen with multiple telescopes. It was observed in gamma rays, x-rays, visible, and radio. The object is now known as a hypernova, a massive star that explodes with between 10 and 100 times the energy of a normal supernova. The true nature of the explosion mechanism is unknown and the correlation with a simultaneous gamma ray burst is still not conclusive. But the hypernova model is becoming more accepted as explaining some gamma ray bursts. I will give an overview of gamma ray bursts and discuss why the supernova community became involved in the search for their explosion mechanism. I will then describe some hydrodynamic calculations of supernovae and our new search for gamma ray after-glows with TOAST.