2006/03/31 by S. Razzaque, Soebur Razzaque, P. Mészáros +1 · 4 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Nuclear Physics and Applications #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/1475-7516/2006/06/006
published as JCAP 0606 (2006) 006 · 11 pages, 2 figures, reference added, published version
openalex publication_date 2006/06/08 · arxiv created 2006/06/09 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
Core collapse of massive stars and binary neutron stars or black hole–neutron star binary mergers are likely progenitors of long and short duration gamma-ray bursts respectively. Neutronized material in the former and neutron star material in the latter are ejected by the central engine implying a neutron-rich jet outflow. A free neutron, however, beta decays to a proton, an electron (beta) and an anti-neutrino in about fifteen minutes in its rest frame. Sudden creation of a relativistic electron is accompanied by radiation with a unique temporal and spectral signature. We calculate here this radiation signature collectively emitted by all beta decay electrons from neutron-rich outflow. Detection of this signature may thus provide strong evidence for not only neutron but also for proton content in the relativistic gamma-ray burst jets.