Simultaneous and optical follow-up GRB observations by BOOTES

Since 1998 BOOTES has provided follow-up observations for more than 70 GRBs; the most important results obtained so far are the detection of an OT in the GRB 000313 error box and the non-detection of optical emission simultaneous to the high-energy emission for several GRBs (both long/soft and short/hard events)

BOOTES-IR: Near IR follow-up GRB observations by a robotic system

“BOOTES-IR” is the extension of the BOOTES experiment, which operates in Southern Spain since 1998, to the near IR (NIR). The goal is to follow up the early stage of the gamma ray burst (GRB) afterglow emission in the NIR, alike BOOTES does already at optical wavelengths. The scientific case that drives the BOOTES-IR performance is the study of GRBs with the support of spacecraft like INTEGRAL, SWIFT and GLAST. Given that the afterglow emission in both, the NIR and the optical, in the instances immediately following a GRB, is extremely bright (reached V = 8.9 in one case), it should be possible to detect this prompt emission at NIR wavelengths too. The combined observations by BOOTES-IR and BOOTES-1 and BOOTES-2 will allow for real time identification of trustworthy candidates to have a high redshift (z > 5). It is expected that, few minutes after a GRB, the IR magnitudes be H ∼ 7–10, hence very high quality spectra can be obtained for objects as far as z = 10 by larger instruments