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Gravitational radiation and gravitational lensing as a source of electromagnetic bursts

Nature volume 332, pages 234–236 (1988)Cite this article

Abstract

What causes gamma-ray bursts has long been a puzzle to theoreticians. Here we propose that fluctuations in the position of a compact source originating in a stochastic background of gravitational waves cause the source to pass back and forth across the high-intensification caustics of an intervening galactic lens. The intensified images cross the Solar System with superluminal speed and give rise to gamma-ray bursts (GRBs)1–3. The features of this model that distinguish it from other models4 of GRBs are (1) the GRB is a result of a lensing phenomenon and not a sudden power surge in a compact source; (2) the directions to the sources obtained with the light-travel-time (LTT) method are incorrect; (3) the spectral features arise from high-angular-resolution scans across accretion disks around Kerr black holes; and (4) the lensed sources are probably BL Lac objects.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Physics Department, University College Dublin, Dublin, 4, Ireland

    B. McBreen

  2. Astrophysics Division, Space Science Department of ESTEC, The Netherlands

    L. Metcalfe

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  1. B. McBreen
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  2. L. Metcalfe
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McBreen, B., Metcalfe, L. Gravitational radiation and gravitational lensing as a source of electromagnetic bursts. Nature 332, 234–236 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1038/332234a0

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