Blandford-Znajek process as a gamma ray burst central engine
Abstract
We investigate the possibility that gamma-ray bursts are powered by a central engine consisting of a black hole with an external magnetic field supported by a surrounding disk or torus. The rotational energy of the black hole can be extracted electromagnetically as a Poynting flux, a mechanism proposed by Blandford and Znajek(1977). Recently observed magnetars indicate that some compact objects have very high magnetic fields, up to G, which is required to extract the energy within the duration of a GRB, i.e., in 1000 s or less. We demonstrate also that the Poynting flux need not be substantially dominated by the disk.
Cite
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/9905373,
title = {Blandford-Znajek process as a gamma ray burst central engine},
author = {Hyun Kyu Lee and R. A. M. J. Wijers and G. E. Brown},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/9905373},
year = {2007}
}
Comments
7 pages, no figure, paspconf.sty, to appear in Proceedings " Gamma Ray Bursts: The First Three Minutes", Gr\"aft{\aa}vallen, Sweden, Feb. 6 - 11, 1999