Abstract
The immensely bright and intrinsically simple afterglow spectra of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have proven to be highly effective probes of the interstellar dust and gas in distant, star forming galaxies. Despite significant progress, many aspects of the host galaxy attenuating material are still poorly understood. There is considerable discrepancy between the amount of X-ray and optical afterglow absorption, with the former typically an order of magnitude higher than that expected from the optical line absorption of neutral element species. Similar inconsistencies exist between the abundance of interstellar dust derived from spectroscopic and photometric data, and the relation between the line of sight and integrated host galaxy interstellar medium (ISM) remains unclear. In this paper we review our current understanding on the attenuation properties of the ISM within GRB host galaxies, and present some recent analysis that tries to consolidate multi-wavelength photometric and spectroscopic observations.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 56-63 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Journal of High Energy Astrophysics |
| Volume | 7 |
| Early online date | 21 May 2015 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Sept 2015 |
Keywords
- Gamma-ray burst, ISM:abundances, Dust, Extinction, Galaxies:ISM