New results on the time histories of gamma-ray bursts

A study of the morphology of 14 short ( 1 s) gamma ray bursts observed by the Franco Soviet SIGNE detectors onboard the VENERA spacecraft between 1978 and 1982 is presented. We find two major groups of short bursts characterised not only by their different durations ( 1 s and 100 ms respectively), but also by different e-folding rise and decay times. A study of the time history of the impulsive portion of the 1979 March 5 event at 2 ms resolution shows evidence for a previously undiscovered 23ms quasi periodicity. These results are discussed in the context of neutron star models for gamma ray bursters.     

Real time localization of gamma ray bursts with INTEGRAL

The INTEGRAL satellite has been successfully launched in October 2002 and has recently started its operational phase. The INTEGRAL burst alert system (IBAS) will distribute in real time the coordinates of the gamma ray bursts (GRBs) detected with INTEGRAL. After a brief introduction on the INTEGRAL instruments, we describe the main IBAS characteristics and report on the initial results. During the initial performance and verification phase of the INTEGRAL mission, which lasted about two months, two GRBs have been localized with accuracy of 2–4 arcmin. These observations have allowed us to validate the IBAS software, which is now expected to provide quick (few seconds delay) and precise (few arcmin) localization for 10–15 GRBs per year.