Re: Gamma burst question


"Ernie Sty" <fake_email@xxxxxxxxx> writes:

I recently watched a show about gamma bursts, but I missed some parts of it.

My question is about the largest and farthest gamma bursts.

I believe that it was said that by calculating the amount of energy received
by the earth-based instruments and the distance of the bursts, then if the
burst was a regular omnidirectional explosion, the amount of energy it would
take to create such a burst would be greater than the amount
of energy you would get if you took all the matter thought to exist in the
universe and converted it all to energy at once.

Is that correct?

Probably not. Typical energy outputs for gamma-ray bursts are about
10^{53} to 10^{54} ergs, if isotropic ("omnidirectional"). This is
about the rest mass energy of one solar mass. Of course there are a
wide range of gamma-ray burst properties, so the answer is not going
to be a single number, but it's definitely not the amount of rest mass
energy in the whole universe!

I think it is probably true that for the brief moment while they are
bursting, gamma-ray bursts are the most luminous emitters in the
universe. Maybe that is what you remember.

Craig
.

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