• DOI:10.1093/mnras/sts378
• Corpus ID: 765056

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

@article{Hambaryan2013AGS,
  title={A Galactic short gamma-ray burst as cause for the 14C peak in AD 774/5},
  author={V V Hambaryan and Ralph Neuhaeuser},
  journal={Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society},
  year={2013},
  volume={430},
  pages={32-36}
}

• V. Hambaryan, R. Neuhaeuser
• Published 12 November 2012
• Physics
• Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

In the last 3000 yr, one significant and rapid increase in the concentration of 14 Ci n tree rings was observed; it corresponds to a γ -ray energy input of 7 × 10 24 erg at Earth within up to one year in AD 774/5. A normal supernova and a solar or stellar flare are unlikely as cause, 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 γ -rays. Its spectral hardness is consistent with the differential production rates of 14 C and 10 Be as observed. The absence of reports about a historic sighting of a supernova in AD 774/5 or a present-day supernova remnant is also consistent with a short GRB. We estimate the distance towards this short GRB to be ∼1–4 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.