The Host Galaxies of Long-Duration Gamma-Ray Bursts
  Long-duration gamma-ray bursts (LGRBs) are the signatures of extraordinarily
high-energy events occurring in our universe. Since their discovery, we have
determined that these events are produced during the core-collapse deaths of
rare young massive stars. The host galaxies of LGRBs are an excellent means of
probing the environments and populations that produce their unusual
progenitors. In addition, these same young stellar progenitors makes LGRBs and
their host galaxies valuable potentially powerful tracers of star formation and
metallicity at high redshifts. However, properly utilizing LGRBs as probes of
the early universe requires a thorough understanding of their formation and the
host environments that they sample. This review looks back at some of the
recent work on LGRB host galaxies that has advanced our understanding of these
events and their cosmological applications, and considers the many new
questions that we are poised to pursue in the coming years.
