Related papers: Gamma-ray bursts, axion emission and string theory…
Gamma-ray bursts have been detected at photon energies up to tens of GeV. We review some recent developments in the X-ray to GeV photon phenomenology in the light of Swift and Fermi observations, and some of the theoretical models developed…
The idea that gamma-ray bursts might be a kind of phenomena associated with neutron star kicks was first proposed by Dar & Plaga (1999). Here we study this mechanism in more detail and point out that the neutron star should be a high speed…
It is by now fairly well established that gamma-ray burst afterglows result from initially relativistic outflows interacting with the medium surrounding the burster and emitting non-thermal radiation ranging from radio to X-rays. However,…
The time evolution of a Gamma-ray burst (GRB) is associated with the evolution of a supernova remnant (SNR). The time evolution of the flux of a GRB is modeled introducing a law for the density of the medium in the advancing layer. The…
A generic low-energy prediction of string theory is the existence of a large collection of axions, commonly known as a string axiverse. Axions also have a natural cosmological production mechanism, vacuum misalignment, making them…
A preponderance of evidence links long-duration, soft-spectrum gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) with the death of massive stars. The observations of the GRB-supernova (SN) connection present the most direct evidence of this physical link. We…
We propose a mechanism by which the neutrino emission from a supernova-type explosion can be converted into a gamma-ray burst of total energy $\sim 10^{50}$ ergs. This occurs naturally if the explosion is situated inside a ball of trapped…
Supernova remnants have long been suggested as a class of potential counterparts to unidentified gamma-ray sources. The mechanisms by which such gamma-rays can arise may include emission from a pulsar associated with a remnant, or a variety…
The high energy neutrino signature from proton-proton and photo-meson interactions in a supernova remnant shell ejected prior to a gamma-ray burst provides a test for the precursor supernova, or supranova, model of gamma-ray bursts. Protons…
Recently, several new correlations between the observed $\gamma$-ray and the X-ray properties of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) were inferred from a comprehensive analysis of the X-ray light curves of more than 650 GRBs measured with the Swift…
We consider the possibility of observing supernova (SN) - gamma-ray burst (GRB) pairs separated by several years. These energetic events correspond to the second SN explosion in a double star system followed by the formation of the very…
We propose a model in which ultra high energy cosmic rays and gamma ray bursts are produced by collisions between neutron stars and axion stars. The acceleration of such a cosmic ray is made by the electric field, $\sim 10^{15} (B/10^{12}…
We briefly discuss the theoretical implications of recent detections of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) by BSAX. Relativistic shock wave theories of fireball expansion are challenged by the wealth of X-ray, optical and radio data obtained after the…
When gamma-rays emerge from a central source they may undergo Compton scattering in surrounding matter. The resulting Compton-scattered electrons radiate. Coherent radiation by such Compton electrons follows nuclear explosions above the…
We speculate that the universe is filled with stars composed of electromagnetic and dilaton fields which are the sources of the powerful gamma-ray bursts impinging upon us from all directions of the universe. We calculate soliton-like…
$\gamma$-ray bursts have baffled theorists ever since their accidental discovery at the sixties. We suggest that these bursts originate in merger of neutron star binaries, taking place at cosmological distances. These mergers release…
Gamma-ray bursts are the most concentrated explosions in the Universe. They have been detected electromagnetically at energies up to tens of GeV, and it is suspected that they could be active at least up to TeV energies. It is also…
The relativistic outflows from gamma-ray bursts are now thought to be narrowly collimated into jets. After correcting for this jet geometry there is a remarkable constancy of both the energy radiated by the burst and the kinetic energy…
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…
We report that axions and photons exhibit instability in the presence of cosmic strings that are carrying magnetic flux in their core. The strength of the instability is determined by the symmetry breaking scale of the cosmic string theory.…