short gamma-ray burst

A short gamma-ray burst (SGRB) is one of two apparent types of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), based upon their time-length and light curve: one type generally lasts a fraction of a second and the other on the order of 30 seconds, the latter termed long gamma-ray bursts (LGRBs). A threshold time-length of 2 seconds is used to nominally classify a GRB as one or the other. The events causing GRBs have been of research-interest since they were first detected. Current theory is that SGRBs are caused by neutron star mergers and neutron-star black-hole mergers, which also cause kilonovae and GW events. GW170817 was an instance of this, showing all three, and future such simultaneous detections could confirm the theory further.