Black hole spin down in GRB observations and Cosmology

TL;DR

This paper models black hole magnetospheres to explain exponential decay in certain GRB lightcurves, suggesting a link to black hole spin-down and potential cosmological applications.

Contribution

It introduces exact models of black hole magnetospheres producing exponential Poynting flux decay and identifies a subclass of GRBs with this behavior, exploring their cosmological relevance.

Findings

Identification of GRBs with exponential flux decay over three orders of magnitude

Estimation of energy release in X-ray emissions

Potential correlation between peak brightness and decay time

Abstract

According to Blandford & Znajek (1977), energy can be extracted electromagnetically from a rotating black hole, should the latter be endowed with a magnetic field supported by electric currents in a surrounding disk. We show that exact models of black hole magnetospheres produce Poynting flux that decreases almost exponentially with time. We went through the Swift BAT-XRT lightcurves and identified a subclass of GRBs that exhibits a clear exponential decay over more than three orders of magnitude in flux (EDOHS GRBs). We estimate the energy given-off in the X-rays and discuss a possible correlation between the peak brightness of the X-ray prompt emission and its decay time. We investigate a possible application of this result in high redshift Cosmology.