Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Are Radio Sources And Gamma Ray Bursts Luminal Booms?, Manoj Thulasidas

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The softening of a Gamma Ray Burst (GRB) afterglow bears remarkable similarities to the frequency evolution in a sonic boom. Atthe front end of the sonic boom cone, the frequency is infinite, much like a GRB. Inside the cone, the frequencyrapidly decreases to infrasonic ranges and the sound source appears at two places at the same time,mimicking the double-lobed radio sources. Although a “luminal” boom violates the Lorentz invarianceand is therefore forbidden, it is tempting to work out the details and compare them with existing data. This temptation is further enhanced by the observed superluminality in the celestial objects associated …