Are ultralong gamma-ray bursts powered by black holes spinning down?

Abstract

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are violent explosions, coming from cosmological distances. They are detected in gamma-rays (also X-rays, UV, optical, radio) almost every day, and have typical durations of a few seconds to a few minutes. Some GRBs have been reported with extraordinary durations of 104s, the so-called ultralong GRBs. It has been debated whether these form a new distinct class of events or whether they are similar to long GRBs. According to Blandford & Znajek, the spin energy of a rotating black hole can be extracted electromagnetically, should the hole be endowed with a magnetic field supported by electric currents in a surrounding disc. We argue that this can be the case for the central engines of GRBs and we show that the duration of the burst depends on the magnetic flux accumulated on the event horizon of the black hole. We thus estimate the surface magnetic field of a possible progenitor star, and we conclude that an ultralong GRB may originate from a progenitor star with a relatively low magnetic field.