Hsiao-Wen Chen (MIT)

Josh Bloom (Harvard-Smithsonian)

Jason X. Prochaska (Lick Observatory)

236 GRBs over 7 years

The Swift Gamma-ray Burst Mission

• Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) :

4 arcmin error radius

• X-ray Telescope (XRT):

5 arcsec accuracy

• UV/Optical Telescope (UVOT):

< 2 arcsec

~ 150 instantly-localized GRBs per year

Barth et al. (2003)

Rapid spectroscopic follow-up with R > 6000

GRAASP Science:

• Probe the reionization epoch:

5% of Swift GRBs expected at z > 6

LBQS0058+0155zDLA=0.613

GRAASP Science:

• Probe the reionization epoch:

5% of Swift GRBs expected at z > 6

• Unmask damped Ly absorbing

galaxies

LBQS0058+0155zDLA=0.613

GRAASP Science:

• Probe the reionization epoch:

5% of Swift GRBs expected at z > 6

• Unmask damped Ly absorbing

galaxies

• Study the chemical abundances

of the ISM of the GRB hosts

GRAASP telescope/funding resources so far :• UC/Keck TOO time: 16 hours per semester

• TOO at Lick Observatory

• TOO on Gemini N/S: 20 hours per semester

• PAIRITEL: dedicated 1.3-m IR imaging telescope on Mt. Hopkins

• Swift cycle 1 guest investigator program: $35 k

GRAASP Alert System:

http://www.graasp.org/

Broader interests/participation in the Magellan community?• Rapid, efficient, organized follow-up program of all Swift GRBs.

• Multiple connections to community interests (e.g. supernovae, IGM,

etc.)---potential key-project material to foster inter-institution

collaboration.

• Public data archive to provide instant access of the program data to

all Magellan members

Issues:• Conflict of interests among individuals and time share between

different partners?• Insurance of the vitality and productiveness of the project.

Features of GRAASP:• Automated alerts

• Existing funding to build data archive

• Data reduction pipeline for fast and uniform data processing.

Summary:• Rapid spectroscopic follow-up of Swift GRBs on

Magellan; unique data for non-GRB sciences

• GRAASP alert script already running on

all Magellan observers computers

• Maximal science return, minimal hurdle

for Magellan observers

• Logistical issues: observation setup, time share,

etc.