Making Black Holes in Supernovae

The possibility of making stellar mass black holes in supernovae that otherwise produce viable Type II and Ib supernova explosions is discussed and estimates given of their number in the Milky Way Galaxy. Observational diagnostics of stellar mass black hole formation are reviewed. While the equation of state sets the critical mass, fall back during the explosion is an equally important (and uncertain) element in determining if a black hole is formed. SN 1987A may or may not harbor a black hole, but if the critical mass for neutron stars is 1.5 - 1.6 M\sun, as Brown and Bethe suggest, it probably does. Observations alone do not yet resolve the issue. Reasons for this state of ambiguity are discussed and suggestions given as to how gamma-ray and x-ray observations in the future might help.Comment: 14 pages, uuencoded gzipped postscript, Accepted Nuclear Physics A, Gerry Brown Festschrift contributio

Gamma-Ray Bursts: The Central Engine

A variety of arguments suggest that the most common form of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), those longer than a few seconds, involve the formation of black holes in supernova-like events. Two kinds of ``collapsar'' models are discussed, those in which the black hole forms promptly - a second or so after iron core collapse - and those in which formation occurs later, following ``fallback'' over a period of minutes to hours. In most cases, extraction of energy from a rapidly accreting disk (and a rapidly rotating black hole) is achieved by magnetohydrodynamical processes, although neutrino-powered models remain viable in cases where the accretion rate is >0.05 solar masses per second. GRBs are but one observable phenomenon accompanying black hole birth and other possibilities are discussed, some of which (long, faint GRBs and soft x-ray transients) may await discovery. Since they all involve black holes of similar mass accreting one to several M\sun, collapsars have a nearly standard total energy, around 10**52 erg, but both the fraction of that energy ejected as highly relativistic matter and the distribution of that energy with angle can be highly variable. An explanation is presented why inferred GRB luminosity might correlate inversely with time scales and arguments are given against the production of ordinary GRBs by supergiant stars.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, Fifth Huntsville Conference on Gamma-Ray Bursts eds. R. M. Kippen, R.S. Mallozzi, & V. Connaughton, AI

High energy transients

A meeting was convened on the campus of the University of California at Santa Cruz during the two-week interval July 11 through July 22, 1983. Roughly 100 participants were chosen so as to give broad representation to all aspects of high energy transients. Ten morning review sessions were held in which invited speakers discussed the current status of observations and theory of the above subjects. Afternoon workshops were also held, usually more than one per day, to informally review various technical aspects of transients, confront shortcomings in theoretical models, and to propose productive courses for future research. Special attention was also given to the instrumentation used to study high energy transient and the characteristics and goals of a dedicated space mission to study transients in the next decade were determined. A listing of articles written by various members of the workshop is included