https://stockholmuniversity.zoom.us/j/530682073
Compact binary mergers are prime sources of gravitational wave
radiation and confirmed sites for the production of r-process
elements. Key insights into their lives and aftermath can be gleaned
through the study of short duration (<2 s) gamma-ray bursts (GRBs),
their afterglows and environment. In this talk, I will discuss the
results of our comprehensive survey of short GRB host galaxies,
highlighting the existence of a population of distant (z>1) mergers. I
will then present the surprising detection of a kilonova in a nearby
long duration GRB. Our work demonstrates that compact binary mergers
can power high-energy transients of over a minute long duration, and
that these represent a new, although possibly rare, electromagnetic
counterpart of gravitational wave radiation.