A Century of Gamma Ray Burst Models

Abstract

More than 100 gamma-ray burst progenitor models have now been published in refereed journals. A list of the models published before the end of 1992 is presented and briefly discussed. The consensus of the present astronomical community remains that no specific model is particularly favored for cosmic bursts. Recent BATSE results make most of these models untenable in their present form, opening up the field to another era of speculative papers. Is speculation in this area becoming valueless? Alternatively, one may argue that the new data makes many of the old models untenable, and simply adapting old models may not be sufficient. With this in mind, three relatively unexplored "toy" paradigms are suggested from which more detailed models for the progenitors of gamma-ray bursts may be made.