Radio afterglow observations continue to provide complementary and sometimes unique diagnostics on gamma-ray burst explosions, their progenitors and their environments. In this review we will first describe current search strategies and the observational properties of the detected sample. In the second part of this review we will follow the evolution of a typical radio afterglow, describe the diverse phenomenology that is observed, and interpret these observations within the framework of the fireball model.

Since their discovery in 1967 Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have been puzzling to astrophysicists. With the advent of a new generation of X–ray satellites in the late 90’s, it was possible to carry out deep multi-wavelength observations of the counterparts associated with the long duration GRBs class just within a few hours of occurrence, thanks to the observation of the fading X-ray emission that follows the more energetic gamma-ray photons once the GRB event has ended. The fact that this emission (the afterglow) extends at longer wavelengths, led to the discovery of optical/IR/radio counterparts in 1997-2003, greatly improving our understanding of these sources. The classical, long duration GRBs, have been observed to originate at cosmological distances in a range of redshifts with 0.1685 ≤ z ≤ 4.50 implying energy releases of ~ 1051 ergs. The recent results on GRB 021004 and GRB 030329 confirm that the central engines that power these extraordinary events are due to be collapse of massive stars rather than the merging of compact objects as previously also suggested. Short GRBs still remain a mystery as no counterparts have been detected so far.

In this paper I will present and discuss some of the relevant results obtained with the Italian satellite BeppoSAX on the prompt and afterglow emission of Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs).

Simple kinematic theories of particle acceleration at relativistic shocks lead to the prediction of a high-energy spectral index of −1.1 for the energy flux of synchrotron photons. However, several effects can change this picture. In this paper I discuss the effect of magnetic field generation at the shock front and, by analogy with the Crab Nebula, suggest that an intrinsic break in the injection spectrum should be expected where the electron gyro radius is comparable to that of protons thermalized by the shock.

We present some preliminary results of relativistic hydrodynamic simulations of post-neutron star merger disks as potential candidates for progenitors of short-lasting gamma-ray bursts. We discuss some of the generic conditions under which a gamma-ray burst can be initiated in this kind of progenitor and the main characteristics of the resulting outflow.

The present common view about GRB origin is related to cosmology, and is based on statistical analysis, and on measurements of the redshifts in the GRB optical afterglows of long GRB. No correlation is found between redshifts, GRB spectrum, and total GRB fluence. Comparison of KONUS and BATSE data about statistics and hard X-ray lines is done, and some differences are noted. Hard gamma-ray afterglows, prompt optical spectra, hard X-ray lines, polarization measurements could be very important for farther insight into GRB origin. Possible connection of short GRB with soft gamma repeaters is discussed.

Understanding the dynamical evolution of post-merger accretion disks over a long timescale (comparable to their lifetimes) is essential to determine if these can power short GRBs. Here we present preliminary results of such a study, spanning 0.2 seconds, by using a realistic equation of state and taking into consideration the effects of neutrino cooling (the main agent, given the physical conditions in the disks).

We assess the ability of neutron star binary coalescence to produce short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). We find that the neutrino annihilation above the merged remnant will drive bipolar, relativistic jets along the initial binary rotation axis. This outflow can be collimated by the energetic, neutrino-driven baryonic wind that is blown off the remnant. Despite the narrow neutron star mass distribution the apparent luminosities will be spread over a broad range from ~ 1049 to ~ 1052erg s−1, typical jet opening half-angles are around 5 degrees. If the central core of the merger remnant does not collapse immediately convective dynamo action will set in and the available kinetic energy can be transformed into magnetic fields in excess of 1017 G. The corresponding spin-down time scale is ~ 0.2 s, just about the duration of a short GRB.

Measuring distances back to a significant portion of the look back time probes the make-up of the Universe, through the effects of different types of matter on the cosmological geometry and expansion. Over the past five years two teams have used type Ia supernovae to trace the expansion of the Universe to a look back time more than 70% of the age of the Universe. These observations show an accelerating Universe which is best explained by a cosmological constant, or other form of dark energy with an equation of state near w = p/ρ = −1. There are many possible lurking systematic effects. However, while difficult to completely eliminate, none of these appears large enough to challenge current results. However, as future experiments attempt to better characterize the equation of state of the matter leading to the observed acceleration, these systematic effects will ultimately limit progress.

Observations of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) reveal correlations between their luminosities and light-curve shapes, and between their spectral sequence and photometric sequence. Assuming SNe Ia do not evolve at different redshifts, the Hubble diagram of SNe Ia may indicate an accelerating Universe, the signature of a cosmological constant or other forms of dark energy. Several studies raise concerns about the evolution of SNe Ia (e.g., the peculiarity rate, the rise time, and the color of SNe Ia at different redshifts), but all these studies suffer from the difficulties of obtaining high-quality spectroscopy and photometry for SNe Ia at high redshifts. There are also some troubling cases of SNe Ia that provide counter examples to the observed correlations, suggesting that a secondary parameter is necessary to describe the whole SN Ia family. Understanding SNe Ia both observationally and theoretically will be the key to boosting confidence in the SN Ia cosmological results.

The “standard candle method” for Type II plateau supernovae produces a Hubble diagram with a dispersion of 0.3 mag, which implies that this technique can produce distances with a precision of 15%. Using four nearby supernovae with Cepheid distances I find H0(V)=75±7, and H0(I)=65±12.

Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) are believed to originate in compact remnants (black holes or neutron stars) of massive stars. Their high luminosities make them detectable out to the edge of the visible universe. We describe the many advantages of GRB afterglows relative to quasars as probes of the intergalactic medium during the epoch of reionization. The Swift satellite, planned for launch by the end of 2004, will likely open a new era in observations of the high redshift universe.

We present new results on the Hubble diagram of distant type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) segregated according to the type of host galaxy. This makes it possible to check earlier evidence for a cosmological constant by explicitly comparing SNe residing in galaxies likely to contain negligible dust with the larger sample. The cosmological parameters derived from these SNe Ia hosted by presumed dust-free early-type galaxies support earlier claims for a cosmological constant, which we demonstrate at ≃ 5σ significance, and the internal extinction implied is small even for late-type systems (AB < 0.2). Furthermore, the scatter observed in the SNe Ia Hubble diagrams correlates closely with host galaxy morphology. We find this scatter is smallest for SNe Ia occurring in early-type hosts and largest for those in late-type galaxies. Moreover, SNe residing in late-type hosts appear fainter in their light-curve-width-corrected luminosity than those in early-type hosts, as expected if a modest amount of dust extinction is a contributing factor. Thus, our data demonstrate that host galaxy extinction is unlikely to systematically dim distant SNe Ia in a manner that would produce a spurious cosmological constant.

The iron mass in galaxy clusters is about 6 times larger than could have been produced by core-collapse SNe, assuming the stars in cluster galaxies formed with a standard IMF. Type-Ia SNe have been proposed as the alternative dominant iron source. We use our HST measurements of the cluster SN-Ia rate at high redshift to study the cluster iron enrichment scenario. The measurements can constrain the star-formation epoch and the SN-Ia progenitor models via the mean delay time between the formation of a stellar population and the explosion of some of its members as SNe-Ia. The low observed rate of cluster SNe-Ia at z ~ 1 pushes back the star-formation epoch in clusters to z > 2, and implies a short delay time. We also show a related analysis for high-z field SNe which implies, under some conditions, a long SN-Ia delay time. Thus, cluster enrichment by core-collapse SNe from a top-heavy IMF may remain the only viable option.

We have analyzed the influence of the stellar populations, from which SN progenitors come, on the observational outcome, including the metal free Pop. III. We use our models to study the evolution of the progenitor, the subsequent explosion and the light curves. For Type Ia, the variation of the main sequence mass of the progenitor of the exploding WD produces an offset in the maximum-decline relation of 0.2 mag. This effect is critical for the use of high redshift Type Ia SNe as cosmological standard candles. In contrast, the metallicity does not change the above relation (at maximum, ΔMV ≤0.06 mag). For Type II, we find a dependence of the light curve properties with both main sequence mass and metallicity of the progenitor, and we identify a rather homogeneous subclass, “Extreme II-P,” that may be used as a quasi-standard candle. Note that, although not as good as Type Ia for distance determinations, Type II are expected to have occurred since the first stars were formed.

Supernovae have provided the evidence for the existence of a dominant dark energy component of the Universe. The commonly accepted form of such a component is the quintessence. Here, we show that the possible nature of this component is rather well constrained by combining the various existing observational cosmological data. However, relaxing some of the various hypothesis can lead to somewhat different results.

We discuss observational constrains coming from supernovae Ia imposed on the behavior of the Randall-Sundrum models. It is interesting that brane models predict brighter galaxies for such redshifts which is in agreement with the measurement of the z = 1.7 supernova. We also demonstrate that the fit to supernovae data can also be obtained, if we admit the “super-negative” dark energy p = − (4/3) ϱ on the brane, where the dark energy in a way mimics the influence of the cosmological constant.

Using the definitive reductions of the IUE light curves by [15] and an extensive set of HST images of SN 1987A we have repeated and improved our original analysis [8, 9] to derive a better determination of the distance to the supernova. In this way we have obtained an absolute size of the ring Rabs = (6.23 ± 0.08) × 1017 cm and an angular size R″ = 808 ± 17 mas, which give a distance to the supernova d(SN1987A) = 51.4±1.2 kpc and a distance modulus (m − M)sN1987A = 18.55 ± 0.05. Allowing for a displacement of SN 1987A position relative to the LMC center, the distance to the barycenter of the Large Magellanic Cloud is also estimated to be d(LMC) = 51.7±1.3 kpc, which corresponds to a distance modulus of (m − M)LMC = 18.56 ± 0.05.