EXIST's Gamma-Ray Burst Sensitivity
David Band
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
dband@lheapops.gsfc.nasa.gov
Additional authors: the EXIST team
Compared to previous detectors, EXIST will be significantly more sensitive to gamma-ray bursts, particularly to bursts with low average photon energy E_p (e.g., X-ray rich bursts and X-ray Flashes); EXIST will be ~5 times more sensitive than Swift. EXIST's threshold photon flux as a function of E_p can be compared to predictions of the burst population as a function of redshift. EXIST's low energy sensitivity should be ideal for detecting high redshift bursts whose gamma rays will be redshifted into the X-ray band. Based on EXIST's sensitivity and large field-of-view, we predict the detection of ~2 bursts every day.
