{"id":28137,"date":"2022-12-08T11:10:05","date_gmt":"2022-12-08T11:10:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/?p=28137"},"modified":"2022-12-08T11:10:05","modified_gmt":"2022-12-08T11:10:05","slug":"unique-gamma-ray-burst-defies-current-formation-theories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/unique-gamma-ray-burst-defies-current-formation-theories\/28137\/","title":{"rendered":"Unique gamma-ray burst defies current formation theories"},"content":{"rendered":"
An international team of astrophysicists has reported the discovery of a unique cosmological gamma-ray burst (GRB) that defies current theories of how the violent cosmic explosions form. This exceptional burst has resulted in a new proposed model, or source, for certain types of gamma-ray bursts.<\/p>\n
The study, \u2018A long-duration gamma-ray burst with a peculiar origin<\/a>,\u2019 is published in the journal Nature. <\/em><\/p>\n Gamma-ray bursts are luminous and violent explosions that signify the deaths of stars or collisions of stellar remnants. Typically, observed gamma-ray bursts can be placed into two categories, either short- or long-duration GRBs.<\/p>\n A long gamma-ray burst is formed from the death of massive stars and is usually associated with bright optical transients called supernovae. Short gamma-ray bursts originate from the collisions of two neutron stars<\/a> or a neutron star and a black hole, and have a duration of fewer than two seconds. These gamma-ray bursts are associated with more faint optical transients known as kilonovae.<\/p>\n For many years, gamma-ray bursts have been able to fit comfortably into these categories. However, this is set to change with the discovery of a unique gamma-ray burst.<\/p>\n On 11 December 2021, a gamma-ray burst triggered several gamma-ray detectors in space, including NASA\u2019s Fermi Gamma-ray Telescope and the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory. This GRB, with a reported duration of around 70 seconds, would usually be regarded as a normal long gamma-ray burst. However, with the input of multiple teams from the US and Europe, a surprising signature was discovered.<\/p>\n \u201cThis GRB includes two parts: a 13-second long hard spike and a 55-second softer extended emission,\u201d said UNLV alumnus and study corresponding author Bin-Bin Zhang, who\u2019s currently with China\u2019s Nanjing University. \u201cThe duration of the 13-second hard spike should have completely excluded this burst from the short GRB category.\u201d<\/p>\n Instead of expectedly showing a much brighter supernova, the observation was consistent with a kilonova, which is usually associated with a short GRB.<\/p>\nWhat is a gamma-ray burst and how is one formed?<\/h3>\n
Detecting the unique gamma-ray burst<\/h3>\n