Joint Astrophysics Colloquium

Using Swift and other Observatories to Study Blazars, Gamma Ray Bursts, and more Very High Energy Astrophysical Accelerators

Abe Falcone

PSU

During the past several years, a suite of instruments has driven the multiwavelength study of jets from gamma ray bursts (GRBs) and blazars to new levels.In the UV/optical to X-ray region, Swift has been producing exciting new results since its launch in 2004, while starting in 2008, Fermi has detected and monitored a record number of high energy sources in the MeV/GeV region.From the ground, TeV telescopes have dramatically increased the number of known TeV sources, while probing new parameter space due to improved sensitivity down to ~100 GeV.When used simultaneously, this suite of instruments is excellent for studies of jets from blazars, GRBs, and binary systems. Their combined sensitivity has opened a new discovery space, also allowing studies of unassociated sources and potential new source classes.These studies and their implications on both the source properties and cosmological parameters will be discussed.Ongoing hardware work to capitalize on future observatory opportunities will also be briefly discussed.