Hot Neutron Stars as a Source for Gamma Ray Bursts at Cosmological Distance Scales

Abstract

We discuss the possibility that the sources for gamma ray bursts are hot neutron stars at cosmological distance scales. The temperature of such stars would be $T\sim 1\text{MeV}$. Such hot stars can produce an electromagnetic blast wave provided that the ratio of baryon and photon numbers $N_B/N_{\gamma }\le 10^{-6}$. The typical time scale for such blasts, the total luminosity, and correlation of gamma ray energy with time of arrival are shown to be roughly consistent with observation. The spectrum of photons also appears to be consistent with known data.

Comments: 19 pages. 1 postscript figure included. Uses LaTeX2e and epsf package