Gamma‐ray burst selection biases

To understand the nature of gamma ray bursts and their sources, and apply meaningful constraints on burst models, we must thoroughly investigate the various burst selection effects which bias the observed properties of gamma ray bursts. We briefly discuss the gamma ray burst triggering process and the resulting selection biases associated with variations in burst light curves, durations and spectra. And, as an example, we consider in more detail the selection bias against ‘‘slow rising’’ bursts which are missed because untriggered flux from the bursts is counted as ‘‘background’’ raising the trigger threshold. We find that these missed bursts significantly affect the observed flux distribution.