Gamma Ray Burst as Vacuum Discharge of Super-Schwinger Electric Fields
| dc.creator | Lieu, R. | |
| dc.creator | Takahashi, Y. | |
| dc.creator | Kibble, T. W. B. | |
| dc.date | 1998-03-06 | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2026-07-25T20:45:22Z | |
| dc.description | A theory is proposed to explain with simplicity the basic observed properties of a Gamma Ray Burst (GRB). It employs a well-known result of Schwinger, that static electric fields in excess of a critical value are unstable to pair creation, and catastrophically produces a thermal plasma at temperatures <= 0.5 MeV. By using observational values for the energy and volume of the source, it is shown that the radiation pressure of an expanding GRB `fireball' leads to the formation of a Schwinger critical field at the ambient medium immediately outside the `fireball'. This naturally provides a runaway solution which is inevitable, and which must involve a burst of gamma radiation in the core of the observed energy range and in an optically thin environment. The observed burst duration of 1 -- 10 seconds is also a straightforward consequence of the theory. | |
| dc.description | 5 pages, LaTeX, no figures, to be submitted to Nature | |
| dc.identifier | https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/9803072 | |
| dc.identifier | http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/9803072 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://dspace.dare.co.zw/handle/123456789/72751 | |
| dc.subject | Astrophysics | |
| dc.title | Gamma Ray Burst as Vacuum Discharge of Super-Schwinger Electric Fields | |
| dc.type | text |