No Arabic abstract
The idea that gamma-ray bursts might be a kind of phenomena associated with neutron star kicks was first proposed by Dar & Plaga (1999). Here we study this mechanism in more detail and point out that the neutron star should be a high speed one (with proper motion larger than $sim 1000$ km/s). It is shown that the model agrees well with observations in many aspects, such as the energetics, the event rate, the collimation, the bimodal distribution of durations, the narrowly clustered intrinsic energy, and the association of gamma-ray bursts with supernovae and star forming regions. We also discuss the implications of this model on the neutron star kick mechanism, and suggest that the high kick speed were probably acquired due to the electromagnetic rocket effect of a millisecond magnetar with an off-centered magnetic dipole.
The consistence of the distributions of pulsars kick velocities from the model of GRB and from the pulsar observations is tested based on the supernova-GRB ($gamma$-ray burst) association and under the assumption that the GRB asymmetric explosions produce pulsars. The deduced distribution of kick velocity from the model of GRB and the observed kick distribution of radio pulsars are checked by K-S test. These two distributions are found to come from a same parent population. This result may indicate that GRBs could be really related to supernova, and that the asymmetry of GRB associated with supernova would cause the kick of pulsars.
By means of three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations with a Eulerian PPM code we investigate the formation and the properties of the accretion torus around the stellar mass black hole which originates from the merging of two neutron stars. The simulations are performed with four nested cartesian grids which allow for both a good resolution near the central black hole and a large computational volume. They include the use of a physical equation of state as well as the neutrino emission from the hot matter of the torus. The gravity of the black hole is described with a Newtonian and alternatively with a Paczynski-Wiita potential. In a post-processing step, we evaluate our models for the energy deposition by nu-nubar annihilation around the accretion torus. Our models show that nu-nubar annihilation can yield the energy to account for weak, short gamma-ray bursts, if moderate beaming is involved. In fact, the barrier of the dense baryonic gas of the torus suggests that the low-density pair-photon-plasma is beamed as axial jets into a fraction 2 delta Omega/ (4 pi) between 1/100 and 1/10 of the sky, corresponding to opening half-angles of roughly ten to several tens of degrees. Thus gamma-burst energies of 10^{50}--10^{51} erg seem within the reach of our models (if the source is interpreted as radiating isotropically), corresponding to luminosities around 10^{51} erg/s for typical burst durations of 0.1--1 s. Gravitational capture of radiation by the black hole, redshift and ray bending do not reduce the jet energy significantly. Effects associated with the Kerr character of the rapidly rotating black hole, however, could increase the gamma-burst energy considerably, and effects due to magnetic fields might even be required to get the energies for long complex gamma-ray bursts.
The first locations of short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) in elliptical galaxies suggest they are produced by the mergers of double neutron star (DNS) binaries in old stellar populations. Globular clusters, where the extreme densities of very old stars in cluster cores create and exchange compact binaries efficiently, are a natural environment to produce merging NSs. They also allow some short GRBs to be offset from their host galaxies, as opposed to DNS systems formed from massive binary stars which appear to remain in galactic disks. Starting with a simple scaling from the first DNS observed in a galactic globular, which will produce a short GRB in ~300My, we present numerical simulations which show that ~10-30% of short GRBs may be produced in globular clusters vs. the much more numerous DNS mergers and short GRBs predicted for galactic disks. Reconciling the rates suggests the disk short GRBs are more beamed, perhaps by both the increased merger angular momentum from the DNS spin-orbit alignment (random for the DNS systems in globulars) and a larger magnetic field on the secondary NS.
The discovery of two neutron stars with gravitational masses $approx 2~M_odot$ has placed a strong lower limit on the maximum mass of nonrotating neutron stars, and with it a strong constraint on the properties of cold matter beyond nuclear density. Current upper mass limits are much looser. Here we note that, if most short gamma-ray bursts are produced by the coalescence of two neutron stars, and if the merger remnant collapses quickly, then the upper mass limit is constrained tightly. If the rotation of the merger remnant is limited only by mass-shedding (which seems probable based on numerical studies), then the maximum gravitational mass of a nonrotating neutron star is $approx 2-2.2~M_odot$ if the masses of neutron stars that coalesce to produce gamma-ray bursts are in the range seen in Galactic double neutron star systems. These limits would be increased by $sim 4$% in the probably unrealistic case that the remnants rotate at $sim 30$% below mass-shedding, and by $sim 15$% in the extreme case that the remnants do not rotate at all. Future coincident detection of short gamma-ray bursts with gravitational waves will strengthen these arguments because they will produce tight bounds on the masses of the components for individual events. If these limits are accurate then a reasonable fraction of double neutron star mergers might not produce gamma-ray bursts. In that case, or in the case that many short bursts are produced instead by the mergers of neutron stars with black holes, the implied rate of gravitational wave detections will be increased.
Hydrodynamic simulations of the merger of stellar mass black hole - neutron star binaries (BH/NS) are compared with mergers of binary neutron stars (NS/NS). The simulations are Newtonian, but take into account the emission and backreaction of gravitational waves. The use of a physical nuclear equation of state allows us to include the effects of neutrino emission. For low neutron star to black hole mass ratios the neutron star transfers mass to the black hole during a few cycles of orbital decay and subsequent widening before finally being disrupted, whereas for ratios near unity the neutron star is already distroyed during its first approach. A gas mass between about 0.3 and about 0.7 solar masses is left in an accretion torus around the black hole and radiates neutrinos at a luminosity of several 10^{53} erg/s during an estimated accretion time scale of about 0.1 s. The emitted neutrinos and antineutrinos annihilate into electron-positron pairs with efficiencies of 1-3% percent and rates of up to 2*10^{52} erg/s, thus depositing an energy of up to 10^{51} erg above the poles of the black hole in a region which contains less than 10^{-5} solar masses of baryonic matter. This could allow for relativistic expansion with Lorentz factors around 100 and is sufficient to explain apparent burst luminosities of up to several 10^{53} erg/s for burst durations of approximately 0.1-1 s, if the gamma emission is collimated in two moderately focussed jets in a fraction of about 1/100-1/10 of the sky.