title: Gamma-ray bursts and cosmology.
abstract: I review the current status of the use of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) as probes of the early Universe and cosmology. I describe the promise of long GRBs as probes of the high redshift (z>4) and very high redshift (z>5) Universe, and several key scientific results that have come from observations made possible by accurate, rapid localizations of these bursts by Swift. I then estimate the fraction of long GRBs that lie at very high redshifts and discuss ways in which it may be possible to rapidly identify-and therefore study-a larger number of these bursts. Finally, I discuss the ways in which both long and short GRBs can be made 'standard candles' and used to constrain the properties of dark energy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA. lamb@oddjob.uchicago.edu
authors.forename: D Q
authors.initials: DQ
authors.lastname: Lamb