ar X iv : a st ro - p h / 04 05 38 6 v 1 2 0 M ay 2 00 4 The GRB / XRF - SN Association

There is mounting evidence that long duration gamma ray bursts (GRBs) and X-ray flashes (XRFs) are produced by highly relativistic and narrowly collimated jets ejected in core collapse supernova (SN) explosions akin to SN 1998bw. We review the history of the GRB-SN association idea and its observational verification. We summarize the present evidence for a GRB/XRF-SN association. We comment on the possibility that most, perhaps all, SN explosions produce GRBs, including SNe of Type Ia which may produce short GRBs/XRFs. We list the major open questions that follow from a GRB/XRF-SN association. Possible uses of the GRB-SN association in cosmology are pointed out. Subject headings: gamma rays: bursts 1. History of the GRB/XRF-SN association The history of scientific breakthroughs is as fascinating as the breakthroughs themselves. The history of the GRB/XRF-SN association is not an exception. The production of gamma rays in supernova (SN) explosions was suspected (Colgate 1959 unpublished) long before the discovery of gamma ray bursts (GRBs) in 1967 by the Vela satellites. Klebesadel, Strong & Olson (1973), in their discovery paper, reported on a catalog search of SNe coincident in time and sky position with the first 13 detected GRBs. Colgate’s suggestion (1968, 1974) that the breakout of the shock wave from the stellar surface in corecollapse SNe may produce GRBs could be true, if GRBs were observable only from relatively small cosmological distances. This is because there are more than 10 SN explosions per day in the observable universe and only 2-3 GRBs per day. However, the Solar Maximum Mission Satellite (SMM) did not detect a prompt GRB from the nearest SN explosion in recent times, SN 1987A in the Large Magellanic Cloud, which happened to be in its field of view (Chupp et al. 1987). Dar & Dado (1987) considered the possibility that radiative decay of neutrinos [email protected] Physics Department and Space Research Institute, Technion, Haifa 32000, Israel and