MAGNETOSPHERIC INTERACTIONS OF BINARY PULSARS AS A MODEL FOR GAMMA-RAY BURSTS

摘要

I consider a model of γ-ray bursts in which they arise right before the merging of binary pulsars. A binary pulsar moving through its companion's magnetic field experiences a large, motional electric field E = v x B/c, which leads to the release in the pulsar's magnetosphere of a pair cascade and the acceleration of a wind of pure pairs. The energy and energy deposition rate of the wind are those of γ-ray bursts, provided the pulsars have a field of ≈ 10~(15) G, Baryon contamination is small and dominated by tidal heating, leading to M_(baryon) ≈ 10~(-6) solar mass, as required by the dirty-fireball model of Meszaros, Laguna, & Rees.