Los Alamos Scientists Uncover New Insights Into Gamma-Ray Bursts, Suggesting Collapsar Origin for Some Long-Duration Events

Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory have published new research in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, interpreting two recent long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRB 211211A and GRB 230307A) as consistent with nucleosynthesis originating from a collapsar. This finding challenges previous assumptions that such bursts were solely from the merger of two neutron stars, suggesting a more varied origin for kilonovae and associated gamma-ray bursts. The team utilized the Laboratory's Chicoma supercomputer for their simulations.