Burst Populations and Detector Sensitivity

The F_T (peak bolometric photon flux) vs. E_p (peak energy) plane is a powerful tool to compare the burst populations detected by different detectors. Detector sensitivity curves in this plane demonstrate which burst populations the detectors will detect. For example, future CZT-based detectors will show the largest increase in sensitivity for soft bursts, and will be particularly well-suited to study X-ray rich bursts and X-ray Flashes. Identical bursts at different redshifts describe a track in the F_T-E_p plane.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. To appear in the proceedings of the 2003 GRB Conference (Santa Fe, NM, 2003 Sep 8-12

Intensity Distributions of Gamma-Ray Bursts

Observations of individual bursts chosen by the vagaries of telescope availability demonstrated that bursts are not standard candles and that their apparent energy can be as great as 10^54 erg. However, determining the distribution of their apparent energy (and of other burst properties) requires the statistical analysis of a well-defined burst sample; the sample definition includes the threshold for including a burst in the sample. Thus optical groups need to the criteria behind the decision to search for a spectroscopic redshift. Currently the burst samples are insufficient to choose between lognormal and power law functional forms of the distribution, and the parameter values for these functional forms differ between burst samples. Similarly, the actual intensity distribution may be broader than observed, with a low energy tail extending below the detection threshold.Comment: For the proceedings of GAMMA 2001 (Baltimore, April 4-6, 2001), 5 page

Properties of GRB Host Galaxies

The transients following GRB970228 and GRB970508 showed that these (and probably all) GRBs are cosmological. However, the host galaxies expected to be associated with these and other bursts are largely absent, indicating that either bursts are further than expected or the host galaxies are underluminous. This apparent discrepancy does not invalidate the cosmological hypothesis, but instead host galaxy observations can test more sophisticated models.Comment: 5 pages, AIPPROC LaTeX, to appear in "Gamma-Ray Bursts, 4th Huntsville Symposium," eds. C. Meegan, R. Preece and T. Koshu

Burst Detector Sensitivity: Past, Present & Future

I compare the burst detection sensitivity of CGRO's BATSE, Swift's BAT, the GLAST Burst Monitor (GBM) and EXIST as a function of a burst's spectrum and duration. A detector's overall burst sensitivity depends on its energy sensitivity and set of accumulations times Delta t; these two factors shape the detected burst population. For example, relative to BATSE, the BAT's softer energy band decreases the detection rate of short, hard bursts, while the BAT's longer accumulation times increase the detection rate of long, soft bursts. Consequently, Swift is detecting long, low fluence bursts (2-3x fainter than BATSE).Comment: To appear in the proceedings of the 16th Annual October Astrophysics Conference in Maryland, "Gamma Ray Bursts in the Swift Era", Washington DC., November 29-December 2, 2005, 4 pages, 3 figure

Sky Coverage and Burst Repetition

To investigate the repeater content of gamma ray burst samples I develop two models where sources burst at a constant average rate. I find that the sky coverage affects the number of repeaters in a sample predominantly through the detector livetime, and that the number of bursts in the sample is the primary parameter. Thus the repeater content of burst samples should be compared within the context of a repetition model; a direct comparison between two samples is possible only if the samples have similar sizes. The observed repeater fraction may not be the actual fraction if the sources burst on average less than once during the detector livetime. Sources which burst repeatedly during active phases separated by more than the observation period must be treated separately.Comment: 12 pages AASTeX 4.0, 3 figures on request from [email protected]

The role of Sox9 in mouse mammary gland development and maintenance of mammary stem and luminal progenitor cells.

BackgroundIdentification and characterization of molecular controls that regulate mammary stem and progenitor cell homeostasis are critical to our understanding of normal mammary gland development and its pathology.ResultsWe demonstrate that conditional knockout of Sox9 in the mouse mammary gland results in impaired postnatal development. In short-term lineage tracing in the postnatal mouse mammary gland using Sox9-CreER driven reporters, Sox9 marked primarily the luminal progenitors and bipotent stem/progenitor cells within the basal mammary epithelial compartment. In contrast, long-term lineage tracing studies demonstrate that Sox9+ precursors gave rise to both luminal and myoepithelial cell lineages. Finally, fate mapping of Sox9 deleted cells demonstrates that Sox9 is essential for luminal, but not myoepithelial, lineage commitment and proliferation.ConclusionsThese studies identify Sox9 as a key regulator of mammary gland development and stem/progenitor maintenance

The GLAST Guest Investigator Program

We provide an overview of the GLAST Guest Investigator (GI) program, which will support basic research relevant to the GLAST mission in yearly cycles beginning approximately two months after launch. Current details about the GLAST GI program will always be posted on the GLAST Science Support Center (GSSC) website: http://glast.gsfc.nasa.gov/ssc/