Gamma Ray Bursts: Nature & Why they Last 2 Seconds

[say_physics04]

Hello Guys! Please help me in this question:
What is the nature of the gamma ray bursts? Why do they last for mo only 2 seconds?

thx!

 

[malawi_glenn]

http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/know_l1/bursts.html

 

[Astronuc]

Gamma-Ray Bursts

http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/objects/grbs/grbs.html

http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/objects/grbs/grbs.html#Spectra


Some links to sites on Gamma Ray Bursts

http://www.batse.msfc.nasa.gov/events/5hgrbs/info/soc.html

http://www.mpe.mpg.de/~jcg/grbgen.html

Here you find some information on the results of GRBs which have been localized within a few hours to days to less than 1 degree by the following instruments and procedures: detection by the BeppoSAX GRBM and imaging in the BeppoSAX WFC; detection by BATSE and subsequent scanning observations by the RXTE/PCA; detection by BATSE and quasi-simultaneous localization by RXTE/ASM scans; triangulation by the Interplanetary Network (IPN); imaging by HETE and INTEGRAL.

http://space.mit.edu/HETE/Bursts/

http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/gcn/hete_grbs.html

http://www.ssl.berkeley.edu/ipn3/masterli.html

 

[Chronos]

Great links, Astronuc! I shamelessly copied them to my library. While some GRB's last only a second or two, others persist for minutes. Different mechanisms are believed to explain this discrepancy - as mentioned in the links provided by Astronuc.

 

[say_physics04]

thanks to you guys for all the links!

 

[Garth]

GRbs have been linked to supernovae and hypernovae: Hypernovae and their Gamma-Ray Bursts Connection.

The connection between long Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) and Supernovae (SNe), have been established through the well observed cases of GRB980425/SN 1998bw, GRB030329/SN 2003dh and GRB031203/SN 2003lw. These events can be explained as the prompt collapse to a black hole (BH) of the core of a massive star (M ~ 40 Msun) that had lost its outer hydrogen and helium envelopes. All these SNe exhibited strong oxygen lines, and their energies were much larger than those of typical SNe, thus these SNe are called Hypernovae (HNe).

Garth

 

[stevebd1]

Though the initial post is over 2 months old I thought these links were worth posting-

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/universe/swift_multimedia.html

http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/watchtheskies/grb_supernova.html

http://www.nasa.gov/lb/mission_pages/swift/main/blackhole_meal.html

regards
Steve