Vidushi Sharma

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Post-doctoral research associate at CRESST-NASA GSFC

Robotic telescope networks play an important role in capturing early and bright optical afterglows, providing critical insights into the energetics and emission mechanisms of GRBs. In this study, we analyze GRB 230204B, an exceptionally energetic and multi-pulsed long GRB, detected by the Fermi GBM and MAXI detectors, with an isotropic equivalent g...

The radiation mechanism underlying the prompt emission remains unresolved and can be resolved using a systematic and uniform time-resolved spectro-polarimetric study. In this paper, we investigated the spectral, temporal, and polarimetric characteristics of five bright gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) using archival data from AstroSat CZTI, Swift Burst Aler...

The radiation mechanism underlying the prompt emission remains unresolved and can be resolved using a systematic and uniform time-resolved spectro-polarimetric study. In this paper, we investigated the spectral, temporal, and polarimetric characteristics of five bright GRBs using archival data from AstroSat CZTI, Swift BAT, and Fermi GBM. These bri...

We report the discovery of GRB 221009A, the highest flux gamma-ray burst (GRB) ever observed by the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (Fermi-GBM). This GRB has continuous prompt emission lasting more than 600 s, which smoothly transitions to afterglow emission visible in the Fermi-GBM energy range (8 keV-40 MeV), and total energetics higher than any ot...

We present 294 pulsars found in GeV data from the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Another 33 millisecond pulsars (MSPs) discovered in deep radio searches of LAT sources will likely reveal pulsations once phase-connected rotation ephemerides are achieved. A further dozen optical and/or X-ray binary systems co-locat...

We report the discovery of GRB 221009A, the highest flux gamma-ray burst ever observed by the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM). This GRB has continuous prompt emission lasting more than 600 seconds, afterglow visible in the \gbm energy range (8 keV--40 MeV), and total energetics higher than any other burst in the GBM sample. By using a variety o...

The first catalogue of GRB polarization measurements was made by CZTI during its first five years of operation. This presents the time-integrated polarization measurements of the prompt emission of 20 GRBs in the energy rangeMajority of the GRBs in the sample are found to possess less / null polarization across the total bursts’ duration in contras...

The Cadmium Zinc Telluride Imager (CZTI) on board AstroSat has been regularly detecting gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) since its launch in 2015. Its sensitivity to polarization measurements at energies above 100 keV allows CZTI to attempt spectropolarimetric studies of GRBs. Here, we present the first catalog of GRB polarization measurements made by CZTI...

Cadmium Zinc Telluride Imager (CZTI) aboard AstroSat has been regularly detecting Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) since its launch in 2015. Its sensitivity to polarization measurements at energies above 100 keV allows CZTI to attempt spectro-polarimetric studies of GRBs. Here, we present the first catalog of GRB polarization measurements made by CZTI durin...

The physical processes of the gamma-ray emission and particle acceleration during the prompt phase in GRBs are still unsettled. In order to perform an unambiguous physical modelling of observations, a clear identification of the emission mechanism is needed. An instance of a clear identification is the synchrotron emission during the very strong fl...

The physical processes of gamma-ray emission and particle acceleration during the prompt phase in gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are still unsettled. In order to perform unambiguous physical modeling of observations, a clear identification of the emission mechanism is needed. An instance of a clear identification is the synchrotron emission during the ver...

Multi-pulsed GRB 190530A, detected by the GBM and LAT onboard Fermi, is the sixth most fluent GBM burst detected so far. This paper presents the timing, spectral, and polarimetric analysis of the prompt emission observed using AstroSat and Fermi to provide insight into the prompt emission radiation mechanisms. The time-integrated spectrum shows con...

Multi-pulsed GRB 190530A, detected by the GBM and LAT onboard \fermi, is the sixth most fluent GBM burst detected so far. This paper presents the timing, spectral, and polarimetric analysis of the prompt emission observed using \AstroSat and \fermi to provide insight into the prompt emission radiation mechanisms. The time-integrated spectrum shows...

Giant flares (GFs) are unusual bursts from soft gamma-ray repeaters (SGRs) that release an enormous amount of energy in a fraction of a second. The afterglow emission of these SGR-GFs or GF candidates is a highly beneficial means of discerning their composition, relativistic speed, and emission mechanisms. GRB 200415A is a recent GF candidate obser...

The prompt emission of short gamma-ray bursts (sGRBs) with known redshifts is analyzed using the model of a multicolor blackbody, which is interpreted as the emission from a nondissipative photosphere taking into account a power-law jet structure and the viewing geometry of the jet. We find nearly 69% and 26% of the sample is consistent with a mult...

We present a machine learning (ML) based method for automated detection of Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) candidate events in the range 60–250 keV from the AstroSat Cadmium Zinc Telluride Imager data. We use density-based spatial clustering to detect excess power and carry out an unsupervised hierarchical clustering across all such events to identify the di...

Cadmium Zinc Telluride Imager (CZTI) onboard AstroSat has been a prolific Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) monitor. While the 2-pixel Compton scattered events (100 - 300 keV) are used to extract sensitive spectroscopic information, the inclusion of the low-gain pixels (around 20% of the detector plane) after careful calibration extends the energy range of Com...

The nature of the gamma-ray burst (GRB) central engine still remains an enigma. Entities widely believed to be capable of powering the extreme jets are magnetars and black holes. The maximum rotational energy that is available in a millisecond magnetar to form a jet is ~10^52 erg. We identify 8 long GRBs whose jet opening angle corrected energetics...

GRB 190114C is an unusual gamma-ray burst (GRB) due to its detection at sub-TeV energies by MAGIC, seen at redshift z = 0.42. This burst is one of the brightest GRB detected by Fermi. A joint GBM-LAT analysis of the prompt emission reveals the presence of sub-GeV spectral cutoff when the LAT low-energy event (LLE) data is also examined. A similar h...

The giant flares of soft gamma-ray repeaters (SGRs) have long been proposed to contribute to at least a subsample of the observed short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). In this paper, we perform a comprehensive analysis of the high-energy data of the recent bright short GRB 200415A, which was located close to the Sculptor galaxy. Our results suggest that a...

Giant flares (GFs) are unusual bursts from soft gamma-ray repeaters (SGRs) that release an enormous amount of energy in a fraction of a second. The afterglow emission of these SGR-GFs or GF candidates is a highly beneficial means of discerning their composition, relativistic speed, and emission mechanisms. GRB 200415A is a recent GF candidate obser...

The giant flares of soft gamma-ray repeaters (SGRs) have long been proposed to contribute to at least a subsample of the observed short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). In this paper, we perform a comprehensive analysis of the high-energy data of the recent bright short GRB 200415A, which was located close to the Sculptor galaxy. Our results suggest that a...

The nature of the gamma-ray burst (GRB) central engine still remains an enigma. Entities widely believed to be capable of powering the extreme jets are magnetars and black holes. The maximum rotational energy that is available in a millisecond magnetar to form a jet is ~10^52 erg. We identify 8 long GRBs whose jet opening angle corrected energetics...

We present the results of a detailed investigation of the prompt and afterglow emission in the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.)-detected GRB 190829A. Swift and Fermi observations of the prompt phase of this gamma-ray burst (GRB) reveal two isolated subbursts or episodes, separated by a quiescent phase. The energetic and the spectral prope...

The prompt emission of short gamma ray bursts (sGRBs) with known redshifts are analyzed using the model of multi-color blackbody which is interpreted as the emission from a non-dissipative photosphere taking into account the structure and the viewing geometry of the jet. We find nearly $69\%$ and $26\%$ of the sample are consistent with multi-color...

We present the results of a detailed investigation of the prompt and afterglow emission in the HESS detected GRB 190829A. Swift and Fermi observations of the prompt phase of this GRB reveal two isolated sub-bursts or episodes, separated by a quiescent phase. The energetic and the spectral properties of the first episode are in stark contrast to the...

GRB 160325A is the only bright burst detected by AstroSat CZT Imager in its primary field of view to date. In this work, we present the spectral and polarimetric analysis of the prompt emission of the burst using AstroSat, Fermi, and Niel Gehrels Swift observations. The prompt emission consists of two distinct emission episodes separated by a few s...

GRB 160325A is the only bright burst detected by AstroSat CZT Imager in its primary field of view to date. In this work, we present the spectral and polarimetric analysis of the prompt emission of the burst using AstroSat, Fermi and Niel Gehrels Swift observations. The prompt emission consists of two distinct emission episodes separated by a few se...

GRB 160821A is the third most energetic gamma-ray burst observed by the Fermi gamma-ray space telescope. Based on the observations made by the Cadmium Zinc Telluride Imager on board AstroSat , here we report the most conclusive evidence to date of (i) high linear polarization ( detection), and (ii) variation of polarization angle with time, occurri...

GRB 160821A is the third most energetic gamma ray burst observed by the {\it Fermi} gamma-ray space telescope. Based on the observations made by Cadmium Zinc Telluride Imager (CZTI) on board {\it AstroSat}, here we report the most conclusive evidence to date of (i) high linear polarization ($66^{+26}_{-27} \%$; $5.3 \sigma$ detection), and (ii) var...

We present a machine learning (ML) based method for automated detection of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) from the AstroSat CZTI data. We make use of density-based spatial clustering to detect excess power and carry out an unsupervised hierarchical clustering across all such events to identify the different categories of light curves present in the data....

GRB 190114C is a famous Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) due to its detection at sub-TeV energies by MAGIC, seen at redshift z = 0.42. This burst is one of the brightest GRB detected by \fermi. We present a detailed analysis of GRB 190114C prompt emission, using the two \fermi detectors: GBM and LAT. The \emph{LAT low energy events} (LLE) data is also conside...

Aim : Both the radio and the high-energy emission mechanism in pulsars is not yet properly understood. A multiwavelength study is likely to help better understand of such processes. ASTROSAT, the first Indian space-based observatory, has five instruments aboard that cover the electromagnetic spectrum from infra-red (1300 Å) to hard X-ray (380 keV)....

The radio as well as the high energy emission mechanism in pulsars is yet not understood properly. A multi-wavelength study is likely to help in better understanding of such processes. The first Indian space-based observatory, ASTROSAT, has five instruments aboard, which cover the electromagnetic spectrum from infra-red (1300 $\AA$) to hard X-ray (...

X-ray and Gamma-ray polarization measurements of the prompt emission of Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are believed to be an important tool to test the various models of GRBs. Although there are some reports of hard X-ray polarization measurements of the prompt emission of GRBs, the number of measurements are small to provide statistically significant inp...

X-ray and Gamma-ray polarization measurements of the prompt emission of Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are believed to be extremely important for testing various models of GRBs. So far, the available measurements of hard X-ray polarization of GRB prompt emission have not significantly constrained the GRB models, particularly because of the difficulty of m...

We present multi-wavelength follow-up campaigns by the AstroSat-CZTI and GROWTH collaborations to search for an electromagnetic counterpart to the gravitational wave event GW170104. At the time of the GW170104 trigger, the AstroSat CZTI field-of-view covered 50.3\% of the sky localization. We do not detect any hard X-ray (>100 keV) signal at this t...