• Energy Research

Long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) release copious amounts of energy across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, and so provide a window into the process of black hole formation from the collapse of massive stars. Previous early optical observations of even the most exceptional GRBs (990123 and 030329) lacked both the temporal resolution to probe the optical flash in detail and the accuracy needed to trace the transition from the prompt emission within the outflow to external shocks caused by interaction with the progenitor environment. Here we report observations of the extraordinarily bright prompt optical and gamma-ray emission of GRB 080319B that provide diagnostics within seconds of its formation, followed by broadband observations of the afterglow decay that continued for weeks. We show that the prompt emission stems from a single physical region, implying an extremely relativistic outflow that propagates within the narrow inner core of a two-component jet.

The hardware emulator of the CCD sensor is described. It was initially designed for 'Pi of the Sky' project purposes, to speed-up the post-assembling test, but it can be easily adapted to other CCD-related hardware debugging needs. The 'Pi of the Sky' experiment searches for optical counterparts of gamma ray bursts from surface of the Earth. The CCD emulator accelerates the development procedure and simplifies post-assembly tests. Since CCD sensor is very fragile device, such emulator reduces risk connected with one handling during the final camera electronics tests and debugging.

Perhaps the most powerful cosmic processes ever observed are gamma ray bursts (GRB). So far, phenomena responsible for GRB have not been unambiguously identified. In the present paper we propose an approach completely different from the classical one. It employs experimental techniques developed for particle physics. Presented project is pioneering research in the unexplored so far domain of cosmic phenomena on the time scale of seconds. Both the rate of signal in question and the rate of unexpected background are not known. Therefore we decided to divide the project into two phases: phase I -two CCD cameras, phase II - a system of cameras covering all sky. The phase I is well defined whereas detailed realization of phase II will depend strongly on results and experience gained in phase I.