2003/01/31 by N. Masetti, Masetti, N.
Physics and Astronomy · #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/0301644
6 pages, 2 figures, solicited talk at the Rome 2002 GRB workshop; typo corrected in the text
arxiv created 2003/02/04 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01
I review the main observational achievements concerning GRB optical afterglows occurred in the past two years. Their emission seems to be well interpreted in terms of the `fireball' model, although a variety of behaviours are observed. Evidence for supernova-like late time `bumps' in the optical light curves is growing; however, other interpretations are possible. Fast follow-up observations allowed the detection of faint optical afterglows, and seem to suggest that a fraction of the so-called `dark' bursts might actually be re-classified as `dim' GRBs. Perspectives for future observations in this field are also outlined.