Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Jul 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010aipc.1248...55d&link_type=abstract
X-RAY ASTRONOMY 2009; PRESENT STATUS, MULTI-WAVELENGTH APPROACH AND FUTURE PERSPECTIVES: Proceedings of the International Confer
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Star Formation, Cosmology, Quasars, Stellar Atmospheres, Supernovae, Star Formation, Particle-Theory And Field-Theory Models Of The Early Universe, Quasars, Stellar Atmospheres, Radiative Transfer, Opacity And Line Formation, Supernovae
Scientific paper
The observation of the very early stages of the Universe represents one of the main challenges of modern cosmology. 200-300 million years after the Big Bang stars began to form, thus providing the Universe with the first sources of light and heat after the Big Bang. This event marks the transition between the epoch when the Universe was dark and neutral and the time when the Universe became fully ionized. The direct investigation of the early Universe has been usually accomplished by observing distant quasars, but a new fundamental tool is now at hand thanks to Gamma-ray Bursts (GRBs). GRBs are gamma-ray flashes, detected from space, produced by rare types of massive stellar explosions. Their rapidly fading afterglows are often bright at optical wavelengths, such that GRBs are detectable up to cosmological distances. Here we report on the Swift observation of GRB 090423 and the near-infrared spectroscopic measurement of its redshift z = 8.1-0.3+0.1. This redshift is substantially higher than that measured any other cosmological object. This GRB was produced in a cosmic explosion when the Universe was only ~4% of its current age. Unexpectedly, this primordial object exhibits properties similar to those of GRBs observed at low/intermediate redshifts, suggesting that the mechanisms and progenitors which gave rise to GRBs about 600 million years after the Big Bang are not markedly different from those producing GRBs ~10 billion years later.
D'Avanzo Paolo
Salvaterra Ruben
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