Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 138, 503-504

Explaining the light curves of gamma-ray bursts with a precessing jet

S.F. Portegies Zwart^1,2 - C.-H. Lee³ - H.K. Lee^3,4

Send offprint request: S.F. Portegies Zwart
e-mail: spz@grape.c.u-tokyo.ac.jp

1 - Boston University, Department of Astronomy 725 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, U.S.A.
2 - Department of Information Science and Graphics, College of Arts and Science, University of Tokyo, 3-8-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153, Japan
3 - Department of Physics and Astronomy, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY 11794, U.S.A.
4 - Department of Physics, Hanyang University, Seoul 133-791, Korea

Received January 21; accepted March 17, 1999

Abstract:

A phenomenological model is presented to explain the light curves of gamma-ray bursts. Gamma-rays are produced in a narrow beam which sweeps through space due to the precession of a slaved accretion disc. The light curve expected from such a precessing luminosity cone can explain the complex temporal behavior of bright gamma-ray bursts.

Key words: accretion discs -- black hole physics -- binaries: close -- stars: neutron -- gamma-rays: bursts -- gamma-rays: theory