In our Special Topic on gamma-ray burst (GRB) research over
the past decade, Dr. Joshua Bloom's work ranks at #10 by total
cites, based on 85 papers cited a total of 3,639 times. Five of
these papers are on the lists of the 20 most-cited papers over
the past decade and over the past two years.
Figure 1: Artist's illustration of a
gamma-ray burst occurring in a dusty region
of intense star formation. If a dust cloud
lies between the burst and Earth, the
optical light will be almost entirely
absorbed, but the gamma-rays and X-rays
will easily penetrate the dust. New
evidence suggests that most "dark"
gamma-ray bursts — those without
optical afterglows — form in similar
dusty environments. (Credit: Aurore
Simonnet/Sonoma State University, NASA
Education & Public
Outreach).
Figure
2:
Figure 2: In the seconds after it first
pointed at GRB 080319B, the infrared
telescope PAIRITEL was blinded by the
brilliant explosion (a). As the gamma-ray
burst began to fade, PAIRITEL was able to
track the light from the explosion for many
hours (b and c). (Credit: Joshua
Bloom/UC Berkeley).
Figure
3:
Figure 3: After the Swift satellite
recorded a gamma-ray burst near this galaxy
on May 5, 2006, UC Berkeley astronomers
turned the Keck telescope on the region to
look for an expected visible-light
signature of a stellar explosion. The lack
of supernova light in this and another
"long" variety gamma-ray burst now casts
doubt on the emerging paradigm that all
long bursts accompany supernovae.
(Credit: Joshua Bloom & Daniel
Perley/UC Berkeley).