Re: Gamma Ray Bursts -- Fireballs or Cannonballs?

[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Jim Graber) writes:

> Has anyone else been paying any attention to the fireball versus
> cannonball dispute?
> It seems to me the cannonball guys have some fairly strong points, but
> no one else seems to agree.  Why is this? Is there a fatal flaw in
> their argument? Why are fireballs so popular?

First of all, I think the term "fireball" is now being used in a rather
"generic" sense, such that it is essentially equivalent to "afterglow."

Secondly, under the "hypernova" model, wherein a massive rotating incipient
black hole formed during an otherwise normal core-collapse supernova fires
a pair of relativistic beams along its axis, the "fireball" and "canonball"
models have effectively merged into each other...


-- Gordon D. Pusch   

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