Re: Distant Gamma Ray Burster Nailed

Michael Lorrey (retroman@tpk.net)
Fri, 23 May 1997 18:30:21 -0400


Hal Finney wrote:
>
> Steve Witham, <sw@tiac.net>, writes:
> > Is it possible that something collects a spread-out
> > effect into a short pulse, some sort of shock-wave maybe?
> > If the medium were "charged" somehow, maybe it could even
> > amplify the original source?
>
> One thing I was thinking was that the radiation could perhaps be going
> out in a tight beam. GRB's would actually be much more common than we
> see, but most of them miss us. However you would still have extremely
> high energy densities unless the beam is super tight. Also the fact
> that something was visible for hours or days afterwards doesn't sound
> right for a tight-beam phenomenon.
>

Well, if you have an object that is emitting a jet of radiation from one
or both of its poles, or say, a pulsar with a rotating beam. THe object
explodes or implodes for some reason. Say a neutron star hits another
neutron star. At least one of these neutron stars is just below the
threshold to be a black hole. When they hit, the combined mass tips over
the limit to become a singularity, and they implode in a huge gush of
radiation. THere are bound to be some wild warping and tearing of
spacetime as these two rotating bodies merge. Additionally, a neutron
star is not pure neutronium. It usually has a decently thick crust of
material, typically denser than iron, as such elements have a negative
fusion energy balance. A huge rush of radiation from the implosion would
instantly fission, fuse, and possibly totally annihilate a large portion
of the crust material, creating even more radiation, while the remainder
would expand in a hugely flourescent cloud which will form a nebula,
slowly dimming over time as it expands.

-- 
TANSTAAFL!!!
			Michael Lorrey
------------------------------------------------------------
mailto:retroman@tpk.net		Inventor of the Lorrey Drive
Agent Lorrey@ThePentagon.com
Silo_1013@ThePentagon.com	http://www.tpk.net/~retroman/

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