Swift UVOT observations of early optical afterglows

摘要

The Swift Ultra-Violet/Optical Telescope (UVOT) sample of good light curves has increased to the point where a preliminary trend of UV/optical flaring in > 50% of the light curves is beginning to be revealed. Here we briefly discuss the overall sample of potentially flaring UV/optical bursts. Although many explanations for flaring in the X-ray have been proposed, it is unclear whether these theories hold in the UV/optical regime. Due to an optimization of the UVOT early burst observing sequence, we also examine the possibility of using the UVOT as a trigger for large ground-based facilities in following high-redshift bursts. We find that UVOT is a useful trigger for these high-z bursts.