The complex no-host problem: Real or imaginary?
Samuel B. Larson · Fourth Huntsville gamma-ray burst symposium · 1998
The reported lack of galaxies inside of gamma-ray burst (GRB) error boxes has often been used to argue against a cosmological distance scale. However, our limited understanding of GRBs makes it difficult to construct a sensitive test for the presence of suitable hosts without making tenuous assumptions. This difficulty is illustrated by examining the underlying assumptions in the two original host galaxy tests. It is found that these tests are heavily dependent upon poorly known quantities, and many assumptions are already violated by circumstances unrelated to GRBs or host galaxies. As a result, normal galaxies have not been eliminated as the hosts of gamma-ray bursts.