Here we present the BAyesian Location Reconstruction Of GRBs (BALROG) method for localizing and characterizing GBM transients. Our approach eliminates the systematics of previous approaches by simultaneously fitting for the location and spectrum of a source. It also correctly incorporates the uncertainties in the location of a transient into the spectral parameters and produces reliable positional uncertainties for both well-localized sources and those for which the GBM data cannot effectively constrain the position.

For the first time we demonstrate using a robust Bayesian approach to analyze the populations of radio-quiet (RQ) and radio-loud (RL) gamma-ray pulsars. Using Bayesian inference, we are able to infer the values and uncertainties of δ and α from the distribution of RQ and RL pulsars. We found that δ is between 10° and 35° and the distribution of α is skewed toward large values.

We study the sharpness of the time-resolved prompt emission spectra of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) observed by the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Our results show that even the sharpest but non-realistic case, the single-electron synchrotron function, cannot explain a large fraction of the observed GRB prompt spectra. Because any combination of physically possible synchrotron spectra added together will always further broaden the spectrum, emission mechanisms other than optically thin synchrotron radiation are likely required in a full explanation of the spectral peaks or breaks of the GRB prompt emission phase.