Catching the light curve of flaring GRBs: The opportunity offered by scanning telescopes

¹ Special Astrophysical Observatory, Russia
² Dipartimento di Astronomia, Università di Bologna, via Zamboni 33, I-40126 Bologna, Italy
³ Istituto Te.S.R.E., CNR, Bologna, Italy
⁴ University of Galway, Ireland
⁵ Gruppo di Fisica Astroparticellare, Università della Basilicata, Potenza, Italy

Received: 18 December 1998
Accepted: 1 July 1999

Abstract

We discuss the project of a wide field optical telescope equipped with panoramic detectors in order to catch an optical transient (OT) simultaneously with Gamma–Ray Burst (GRB). This telescope scans the gamma–ray telescope field of view, and with 1 m mirror for 1 s of integration time would detect OTs up to 16 mag; the probability of covering the GRB location in a field of 20° is 12%. The detection limit could be raised and the probability of catching OTs could be over 90% using a system of special telescopes with wide aperture and large collecting area.