Multi-band monitoring and polarimetry of GRB afterglows with the IUCAA telescope

Abstract

The IUCAA 2m telescope which is scheduled to be available for observations in early 2002, will initially have two instruments at its f/10 Cassegrain focii - the IUCAA FAint Object Spectrograph Camera (IFOSC) and the Near-Infrared PICNIC Imager (NIPI). Both of these instruments are planned to have polarimetric capabilities too, with the ability to measure two orthogonal polarization components simultaneously. Apart from monitoring the afterglow lightcurves, these instruments will provide the opportunity to observe afterglow linear polarization and perhaps its variation. Such observations are necessary to constrain the large number of models that have been suggested predicting afterglow polarization. Measurement of polarization will also provide a better handle in understanding the beaming nature or otherwise of GRB ejecta.