A commonly accepted mechanism for many long-duration GRBs is the core collapse of a massive star into a black hole, with infalling stellar material forming an accretion disk whose magnetic fields launch relativistic jets that produce focused beams of gamma rays observable if the jet points toward Earth.
January 01, 1997
high
temporal
Summarizes the established collapsar model linking some GRBs to massive-star deaths and jet production.
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are extremely luminous explosions in the universe that typically produce pulses of gamma rays lasting seconds to minutes.
January 01, 1990
high
temporal
Describes typical observed duration and luminosity of GRBs.
Flares from supermassive black holes can originate from tangled magnetic fields or from instabilities in the heated accretion disks surrounding those black holes.
high
general
Common physical mechanisms proposed for bright, transient emission near black holes.