Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglow Light Curves in the Pre-Swift Era: A Statistical Study

We present the results of a systematic analysis of the world sample of optical/near-infrared afterglow light curves observed in the pre-Swift era by the end of 2004. After selecting the best observed 16 afterglows with well-sampled light curves that can be described by a Beuermann equation, we explore the parameter space of the light-curve parameters and physical quantities related to them. In addition, we search for correlations between these parameters and the corresponding gamma-ray data, and we use our data set to look for a fine structure in the light curves.