Host Galaxy Properties

While the afterglows of short-duration GRBs provide valuable diagnostics, because of the ultra-relativistic nature of the outflows, the afterglow is largely decoupled from the so-called "central engine" ultimately powering these explosions.  However, properties of the environment of these explosions - both the galaxies in which short-duration GRBs explode, and their location within these galaxies - can provide even more powerful (albeit circumstantial) evidence as to their origins.