Related papers: A Burst of Speculation
The energy source of the giant HI supershells in nearby galaxies and in our own is still an unsettled issue. Proposed scenarios for production of near-complete ringlike supershells are multiple supernovae (SNe) and gamma-ray bursts (GRBs).…
Ultrahigh energy cosmic rays are the most energetic of any subatomic particles ever observed in nature. The quest for their mysterious origin is currently a major scientific challenge. Here we explore the possibility that these particles…
The hard X-ray and gamma-ray phenomenology of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) can be explained by an external shock model where a single relativistic blast wave interacts with the surrounding medium. Besides reproducing the generic spectral…
We analyze the randomness of the sky distribution of cosmic gamma-ray bursts. These events are associated with massive galaxies, spiral or elliptical, and therefore their positions should trace the large-scale structure, which, in turn,…
This Chapter provides a review of $\gamma$-ray sources lying at high Galactic latitudes. Their statistical properties and variability status, as well as studies involving cross correlations with lower frequency catalogs and multiwavelength…
The degree to which gamma ray bursts are collimated is now the dominant uncertainty in their energy requirements and event rates. In this review I begin with the reasons for studying GRB collimation, then discuss existing tests for…
Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) are thought to originate at cosmological distances from the most powerful explosions in the Universe. If GRBs are not beamed then the distribution of their number as a function of Gamma-ray flux implies that they…
Gamma ray bursts (GRBs) are astronomical phenomena detected at highest energies. The gamma ray photons carry energies on the order of mega-electronovolts and arrive to us from the point-like sources that are uniformly distributed on the…
The prompt gamma-ray emission in gamma-ray bursts is believed to be produced by internal shocks within a relativistic unsteady outflow. The recent detection of prompt optical emission accompanying the prompt gamma-ray emission appears to be…
"Diffuse" gamma rays consist of several components: truly diffuse emission from the interstellar medium, the extragalactic background, whose origin is not firmly established yet, and the contribution from unresolved and faint Galactic point…
We propose a model for gamma-ray emitting microblazars based on the Compton interaction of a relativistic electron-positron plasma, ejected in a jet feature, with the UV-photon field provided by a high-mass stellar companion. Taking into…
A new cosmological scenario for the origin of gamma ray bursts (GRBs) is proposed. In our scenario, a highly evolved central core in the dense galactic nucleus is formed containing a subsystem of compact stellar remnants (CSRs), such as…
The energy release in gamma-ray bursts is one of the most interesting clues on the nature of their "inner engines". We show here that the total energy release in GRBs varies by less than one order of magnitude from one burst to another…
Gamma-ray bursts are violent events occurring randomly in the sky. In this review, I will present the fireball model, proposed to explain the phenomenon of gamma-ray bursts. This model has important consequences for the production and…
The demonstration of repeated gamma-ray bursts from an individual source would severely constrain burst source models. Recent reports (Quashnock and Lamb 1993; Wang and Lingenfelter 1993) of evidence for repetition in the first BATSE burst…
Most cosmological models for gamma-ray bursts invoke the production of a ``fireball'' in a compact region, as indicated by the short time variability of the observed GRBs. The high density of $e^+e^-$ pairs in such fireballs inevitably…
We discuss some open problems concerning the origin and the emission mechanism of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) in light of recent developments. If GRBs originate at extragalactic distances, we are facing four crises: (1) an energy crisis, models…
The extreme physical conditions of Gamma Ray Bursts can constitute a useful observational laboratory to test theories of gravity where very high curvature regimes are involved. Here we propose a sort of curvature engine capable, in…
Compact plasmas, that exist near black-hole candidates and in gamma ray burst sources, commonly exhibit self-organized non-linear behavior. A model that simulates the non-linear behavior of compact radiative plasmas is constructed directly…
Systematic variations of average observational characteristics and correlation properties between different parameters of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) with time from 1991 April to 1994 September are revealed. It is hard to explain the observed…