Binary star progenitors of long gamma-ray bursts

Abstract

We present a binary channel for the progenitors of long gamma-ray bursts. We test the idea of producing rapidly rotating Wolf-Rayet stars in massive close binaries through mass accretion and consecutive quasi-chemically homogeneous evolution. The binary channel presented here may provide a means for massive stars to obtain the required high rotation rates. Moreover, it suggests that a possibly large fraction of long gamma-ray bursts occurs in runaway stars. This can have important observational consequences for both the positions of GRBs, and their afterglow properties.

Accepted for publication in A&A Letters

References in corpus (1)

• Ly-alpha and UV emission from high-redshift GRB hosts: To what extent do GRBs trace star formation?

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