Abstract
GAMMA-RAY bursts remain mysterious astrophysical phenomena. The discovery of cyclotron harmonics1–3 in their spectra is strong evidence that they originate from strongly magnetized neutron stars, but their energy source and photon production mechanism are unknown. In observations of a γ-ray burst using the Ginga astronomy satellite, we detected X-ray emission in the 2–10 keV energy range ∼10 s before the onset of the γ-ray event, as well as a tail of X-ray emission for ∼30 s afterwards. The long timescale and near black-body spectrum of the precursory X-ray emission suggests that the burst mechanism involves a transition from thermal to non-thermal photon production, and that the energy source for the burst comes from within the neutron star rather than from accretion.
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Murakami, T., Inoue, H., Nishimura, J. et al. A γ-ray burst preceded by X-ray activity. Nature 350, 592–594 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1038/350592a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/350592a0
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