by Kurt Weiler (ed), Springer. Hardback ISBN 3540440534, €89.95 (£69.00, $115.80).
The association of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) with supernova (SN) explosions has been suspected since the discovery of GRBs by the Vela satellites in 1967. However, observational evidence for a GRB-SN association was first found accidentally after the discovery of GRB afterglows 30 years later. The prompt search for an optical afterglow of GRB980425 led to the discovery, two days after the burst, of a relatively nearby supernova, SN1998bw, whose sky position and estimated explosion time were consistent with those of GRB980425. The physical association between them suggested that GRB980425 was produced by a highly relativistic and narrowly collimated jet viewed off axis and ejected by SN1998bw, which appeared to be unusually energetic for a supernova because it was viewed near axis.
These conclusions were not immediately reached by the majority of the GRB and SN communities, who were more accustomed to spherical models of SN explosions and GRB “fireballs”. So the above evidence for a GRB-SN association was at first dismissed as being either an accidental sky coincidence between a distant GRB and a close SN, or as a physical association between a new type of faint GRB (see p293 in the book) and a new type of SN, much more energetic than ordinary supernovae (SNe) and dubbed “hypernovae” (see pp243-281).
These interpretations began to erode, however, as observational data on optical afterglows of other GRBs accumulated. The data indicated that GRBs take place in star formation regions in host galaxies and their afterglows. In particular those of the relatively close GRBs show evidence that long duration GRBs are produced by jetted ejecta in SN explosions akin to SN1998bw, and not in fireballs produced by the merger of neutron stars in binary systems due to gravitational wave emission. But it was the dramatic spectroscopic discovery on 8 April 2003 of SN2003dh in the late afterglow of GRB030329 that convinced the majority of the GRB and SN communities that ordinary, long duration GRBs are produced in SN explosions akin to SN1998bw.
The book Supernovae and Gamma Ray Bursters edited by Kurt Weiler, an expert on radio SNe, appeared shortly before the discovery of GRB030329 and SN2003dh. It contains a collection of contributions on SNe and GRBs. Many of the contributions are very informative, well written and satisfy the stated aim of Springer’s Lecture Notes In Physics: “intended for broader readership, especially graduate students and non-specialist researchers wishing to familiarize themselves with the topic concerned.”
The first half of the book is devoted to SNe and includes contributions such as “Supernova Rates” by Enrico Capelaro and “Measuring Cosmology with Supernovae” by Saul Perlmutter and Brian Schmidt. The second half is devoted to GRBs and includes contributions such as “Observational Properties of Cosmic GRBs” by Kevin Hurley, “X-ray Observations of GRB Afterglows” by Filippo Frontera and “Optical Observations of GRB Afterglows” by Elena Pian.
However, the book as a whole is unbalanced, both in its coverage of SNe and GRBs and in its coverage of the possible GRB-SN association, which presumably was its main aim. The first half covers in great detail (seven out of ten chapters) the fireworks from the interaction of the SN ejecta with the SN environment, but lacks a detailed discussion of our current knowledge of the different SN progenitors, the mechanisms that explode them and the compact remnants that are left over. It is needless to emphasize the importance and relevance of these subjects to the GRB-SN association. The second part of the book, which is devoted to GRBs and their afterglows, focuses mainly (four chapters extending over 100 pages) on the observations of GRB afterglows, with only a single chapter (16 pages long) on the prompt gamma-ray emission. Our current “theoretical understanding” of GRBs is summarized in a single chapter, which is exclusively devoted to the presentation of the party line – the fireball model – as if it were a dogma. It does not discuss the model’s severe problems, nor possible future tests of the model. It does not even mention alternative models, such as the “Cannonball Model”, which is ab initio based on a GRB-SN association, is falsifiable, and is much more predictive and successful than the fireball models.
In summary, the book contains some useful summaries of observational data on SNe and GRBs, but sheds no light on the production mechanism of SNe and GRBs, nor on the GRB-SN association.
