Related papers: Does merger-induced core-collapse produce gamma-ra…
Gamma-ray bursts can appear to be a hundred times as luminous as supernovae, but their underlying energy source(s) have remained a mystery. However, there has been evidence for some time now of an association of gamma-ray bursts with…
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are flashes of high-energy radiation arising from energetic cosmic explosions. Bursts of long (>2 s) duration are produced by the core-collapse of massive stars, those of short (< 2 s) duration by the merger of two…
We suggest that the collapsing core of a massive rotating star may fragment to produce two or more compact objects. Their coalescence under gravitational radiation gives the resulting black hole or neutron star a significant kick velocity,…
Observations show that at least some gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) happen simultaneously with core-collapse supernovae (SNe), thus linking by a common thread nature's two grandest explosions. We review here the growing evidence for and…
Core collapse within blue supergiant stars, as occurred within Sk -69$^{\circ}$202/Supernova 1987A, is generally attributed to a merger of two electron-degenerate cores within a common envelope, with a merged mass in excess of 1.4 solar.…
For decades, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have been broadly divided into `long'- and `short'-duration bursts, lasting more or less than 2s, respectively. However, this dichotomy does not map perfectly to the two progenitor channels that are…
Long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are believed to be related to the explosion of type Ic supernovae, which have been stripped of their hydrogen and helium envelopes. There appear to be two types of these explosions: those which are approximately…
We propose that the cosmological gamma ray bursts arise from the collapse of neutron stars to black holes triggered by collisions or mergers with main sequence stars. This scenario represents a cosmological history qualitatively different…
The stellar origin of gamma-ray bursts can be explained by the rapid release of energy in a highly collimated, extremely relativistic jet. This in turn appears to require a rapidly spinning highly magnetised stellar core that collapses into…
Type Ia Supernovae (SNe) have been used by many to argue for an accelerated expansion of the universe. However, high velocity and polarized features in many nearby SNe Ia, and their inverse relation to luminosity, particularly for…
We study the scenario where the gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) arise from core-collapse of very massive stars in star-forming regions in the starburst galaxies at high redshift. The bimodial structure of the gamma-ray bursts point to their…
Study of the polarization of supernovae has suggested that the core collapse process may be intrinsically strongly asymmetric. There is a tentative trend for supernova with smaller envelopes showing more polarization, with Type Ic having…
The separation of the gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) into short/hard and long/soft subclasses, respectively, is well supported both theoretically and observationally. The long ones are coupled to supernovae type Ib/Ic - the short ones are…
It is proposed that gamma-ray bursts are created in the mergers of double neutron star binaries and black hole neutron star binaries at cosmological distances. Bursts with complex profiles and relatively long durations are the result of…
There are hints that nearby Type Ia supernovae may be a little different than those at large redshift. Confidence in the conclusion that there is a cosmological constant and an accelerating Universe thus still requires the hard work of…
The polarization of core-collapse supernovae shows that many if not all of these explosions must be strongly bi-polar. The most obvious way to produce this axial symmetry is by the imposition of a jet as an intrinsic part of the explosion…
The observed association between supernovae and gamma-ray bursts represents a cornerstone in our understanding of the nature of gamma-ray bursts. The collapsar model provides a theoretical framework for this connection. A key element is the…
When massive stars exhaust their fuel they collapse and often produce the extraordinarily bright explosions known as core-collapse supernovae. On occasion, this stellar collapse also powers an even more brilliant relativistic explosion…
It is now recognized that long-duration Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) are linked to the collapse of massive stars, based on the association between (low-redshift) GRBs and (type Ic) core-collapse supernovae (SNe). The census of massive stars and…
Over the past five years evidence has mounted that long-duration (> 2 s) gamma-ray bursts (GRBs)--the most brilliant of all astronomical explosions--signal the collapse of massive stars in our Universe. This evidence was originally based on…