High Velocity Neutron Star Model of Gamma-Ray Burst Sources

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Session 111 -- Gamma Ray Bursts
Oral presentation, Thursday, 12, 1995, 10:00am - 11:30am

[111.03] High Velocity Neutron Star Model of Gamma-Ray Burst Sources

T.~Bulik, D.~Q.~Lamb (U.~Chicago)

Reconsideration of the proper motions of radio pulsars (Lyne and Lorimer 1994) and evidence from the associations between young radio pulsars and supernova remnants (Frail et~al. 1994) suggest that the birth velocities of neutron stars can be $\approx 500 - 1000$~km s$^{-1}$. We follow the dynamical behavior of such high velocity neutron stars born in the Galactic disk. Our model of the Galactic potential includes the bulge, disk, and a spherical halo. We include the circular velocity of the Galactic disk. We compute the resulting distribution of neutron stars in the Galactic halo as a function of initial velocity and age. Assuming that the bursts are standard candles, we compare the angular and peak flux distributions predicted by the model with those of the gamma-ray bursts in the BATSE 2B catalogue (Fishman et~al. 1994). The results indicate that this model is a promising explanation of gamma-ray burst sources.

This research was supported in part by NASA grants NAGW-830, NAGW-1284, NAG5-1454, and NASW-4690.

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