1998/12/15 by Kevork Abazajian, Kevork N. Abazajian, George M. Fuller +5
Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Statistical and numerical algorithms #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/9812287
6 pages, 1 figure, To appear in proceedings for IAU Symposium 194: Activity in Galaxies, Byurakan, Armenia
arxiv created 1998/12/15 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01
The formation of supermassive black holes through the gravitational collapse of supermassive objects (M \ga 104 M_\odot) has been proposed as a source of cosmological gamma-ray bursts. The major advantage of this model is that such collapses are far more energetic than stellar-remnant mergers. The major drawback of this idea is the severe baryon loading problem in one-dimensional models. We can show that the observed log N - log P (number vs. peak flux) distribution for gamma-ray bursts in the BATSE database is not inconsistent with an identification of supermassive object collapse as the origin of the gamma-ray bursts. This conclusion is valid for a range of plausible cosmological and gamma-ray burst spectral parameters.