bursts

Bursts are episodes of short duration in which a system emits energy, signal, or activity at rates well above its baseline. They are characterized by rapid onset, high peak intensity, and relatively brief duration, followed by a return to quiescence. The concept applies across many disciplines, from natural phenomena to engineered systems.

In astronomy, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are intense flashes of gamma rays lasting from milliseconds to minutes and are followed by afterglows at longer wavelengths. They are among the most luminous events in the universe. GRBs are generally classified as short or long, reflecting different progenitors: mergers of compact objects for short GRBs and the collapse of massive stars for long ones. Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are millisecond radio pulses of extragalactic origin; some repeat, and their sources remain a topic of active research, with magnetars among leading candidates.

In neuroscience, bursts are brief episodes of rapid neuronal firing. They consist of clusters of spikes separated by quieter periods and can occur within individual neurons or neural populations. Bursting can influence synaptic plasticity and information coding, and abnormal bursting is observed in conditions such as epilepsy.

In telecommunications and data networks, burstiness refers to irregular data transmission, where activity occurs in bursts rather than at a steady rate. Bursty traffic can cause latency and congestion, prompting the use of buffers, scheduling algorithms, and traffic shaping to maintain performance.

In acoustics and signal processing, bursts describe brief, high-intensity sounds or transients that stand out from background noise. Burst detection identifies these events for tasks such as feature extraction or noise reduction.