Spitzer Observations of the Highest-Redshift Gamma-Ray Bursts

Details Spitzer Observations of the Highest-Redshift Gamma-Ray Bursts Spitzer Observations of the Highest-Redshift Gamma-Ray Bursts

Jun 2005

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2005sptz.prop20419f&link_type=abstract

Spitzer Proposal ID #20419

Physics

Scientific paper

We propose to use the Spitzer Space Telescope to study the infrared (3.6 to 8.0 micron) afterglow emission of GRBs from the ``dark ages'' of the universe, z>6. Current theories of the early universe predict the first star formation activity at z~20, and since GRBs are associated with the deaths of massive stars they may be expected at this epoch as well, before the formation of the first quasars. Our candidate high-redshift afterglows will be identified in ground-based near-infrared imaging as fading sources with red J-Ks and H-Ks colors, J-Ks > H-Ks > 3.0 mag. For these bursts, 4-band IRAC imaging can provide the crucial additional color information that will distinguish afterglows at z>12.7 (H-band drop-outs) from those within high-extinction environments at z>6 (rest-frame E_(B-V)>0.8). We request time to carry out two high-impact Spitzer TOO campaigns during the cycle. The confirmation of even a single z>6 burst will have immediate implications for theories of the early universe, formation of the first nonlinear structures, the nature of the earliest stars, and cosmology.

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