Gamma-ray bursts as the death throes of massive binary stars

It is proposed that gamma-ray bursts are created in the mergers of double neutron star binaries and black hole neutron star binaries at cosmological distances. Bursts with complex profiles and relatively long durations are the result of magnetic flares generated by the Parker instability in a post-merger differentially-rotating disk. Some bursts may also be produced through neutrino-antineutrino annihilation into electrons and positrons. In both cases, an optically thick fireball of size < ∼ 100 km is initially created, which expands ultrarelativistically to large radii before radiating. Several previous objections to the cosmological merger model are eliminated. It is predicted that γ-ray bursts will be accompanied by a burst of gravitational radiation from the spiraling-in binary which could be detected by LIGO.

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