Clemson astronomer sheds

light on stellar explosions

By Kelly Davis detected in March. netic radiation. but more
Independent·Mall Gamma-ray bursts are energetic than those
short-lived but energetic forms.The burst on March
Using deep space as a labo· bursts of visible-light. X·ray 29. named GRB030329 for
ratory, a Clemson University and gamma radiation detect- "gamma-ray burst" and its
ast.ronomer has been delving ed every few days from all discovery date. was the clos-
into the physics of the most parts of the sky. rvlr. est ever found that also had
massive explosions known in Hartmann said. an X-ray and visible-ligbt
the universe and what they Astronomers are trying to afterglow, so it gave scien-
create. He will publish his determine if they at times tists unprecedented time to
most recent work in today's signal the collapse of a large observe its energy signals,
edition of the science jour· star into a black hole. Mr. Hartmann said. Another
nal Nature. They are named gamma such burst may not occur for
Dieter Hartmann, an asso· ray bursts because the} decades, he said.
ciate professor in the release huge amounts of
Department of physics and energy over a short tIme He and student Kevin
astronomy, co·authored the between a fraction of a sec- Lindsay first watched the
paper about his studies of ond to 15 minutes or 50_ Like afterglow through a tele-
polarization in energy com· visible light and X-rays. special LO ;hE! [ndependent-Mail
ing from a gamma ray burst gamma rays are electromag- Please see Bursts. Page 2B GRB030329 can be seen in this contributed photo.
Clemson astronomer sheds
light on stellar explosions
From 1B
-scope operated remotely in
Arizona by the Southeastern
Association for Research in
Astronomy, of which
Clemson is a member. As it
faded, they switched to a
larger telescope in Chile
operated by a European
consortium of "afterglow
chasers." The paper Mr.
Hartmann helped write
discusses how the burst's
polarization changed over
time. Polarization is the
orientation of the electric
field accompanying an
electromagnetic ray, and the
polarization mix in a
collection of rays - such as
the signal from a gamma ray
burst - reveals something
about how the energy was
created. Specifically, it could
provide evidence that bursts
"are the birth cry of black
holes formed at the end of
massive stars' lives," Mr.
Hartmann said. "It is a key
stone in the mosaic of
circumstantial evidence."