Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Physics, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 179-191). / In this thesis, I report on a system I designed ad implemented to rapidly identify and localize new transient X-ray sources observed by the All-Sky Monitor (ASM) on the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (XTJS), I used this system to identify fourteen Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs). Eight of these events were found in archived ASM observations from the first 1.5 years of operation, but the rest were detected and reported within 2 - 32 hours of the event. In thirteen of the fourteen cases, I was able to provide error boxes with a reliable confidence level. I report here on the ASM instrument, the system to identify new X-ray sources, the ASM localization capability, the current state of the field of GRB studies, the thirteen GRB positions, and fourteen GRB light curves. I interpret these observations in the context of the Synchrotron Shock Model for GRB emission. / by Donald Andrew Smith. / Ph.D.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:MIT/oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/28217 |
| Date | January 1999 |
| Creators | Smith, Donald Andrew, 1970- |
| Contributors | Hale V.D. Bradt., Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Physics., Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Physics. |
| Publisher | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Source Sets | M.I.T. Theses and Dissertation |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 191 p., 10772855 bytes, 10797330 bytes, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf |
| Rights | M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission., http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 |
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