A Galactic short gamma-ray burst as cause for the 14C peak in AD 774/5

Abstract

In the last 3000 yr, one significant and rapid increase in the concentration of 14C in tree rings was observed; it corresponds to a gamma-ray energy input of 7x10^24 erg at Earth within up to one year in AD 774/5 (Miyake et al. 2012). A normal supernova and a solar or stellar flare are unlikely as cause (Miyake et al. 2012), so that the source remained unknown. Here, we show that a short gamma-ray burst (GRB) in our Galaxy is consistent with all observables: Such an event is sufficiently short and provides the necessary energy in the relevant spectral range of $\gamma$-rays. Its spectral hardness is consistent with the differential production rates of 14C and 10Be as observed. The absence of reports about a historic sighting of a supernova in AD 774/5 or a present-day supernova remnant are also consistent with a short GRB. We estimate the distance towards this short GRB to be ~ 1 to 4 kpc - sufficiently far away, so that no extinction event on Earth was triggered. This is the first evidence for a short GRB in our Galaxy.

arXiv commentMNRAS, accepted; 6 pages, 3 figures

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• A rapid cosmic-ray increase in BC 3372-3371 from ancient buried tree rings in China
• Solar activity around AD 775 from aurorae and radiocarbon
• Anchoring historical sequences using a new source of astro-chronological tie-points
• Modelling Cosmic Radiation Events in the Tree-ring Radiocarbon Record
• Supernovae and Single-Year Anomalies in the Atmospheric Radiocarbon Record
• Records of sunspot and aurora activity during 581-959 CE in Chinese official histories in the periods of Suí, Táng, and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms
• A comet could not produce the carbon-14 spike in the 8th century
• A review of East Asian reports of aurorae and comets circa AD 775
• A solar super-flare as cause for the 14C variation in AD 774/5 ?
• "Unusual Rainbow and White Rainbow" A new auroral candidate in oriental historical sources
• Variations of 14-C around AD 775 and AD 1795 - due to solar activity
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• Searching Signals in Chinese Ancient Records for the ${}^{14}$C Increases in AD 774-775 and in AD 992-993
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• Consequences of Energetic Magnetar-Like Outbursts of Nearby Neutron Stars: ${}^{14}$C Events and the Cosmic Electron Spectrum
• Estimating solar radiation environment extremes
• Reply to "Rapid ${}^{14}$C excursion at 3372-3371 BCE not observed at two different locations"