New Evidence for the Cosmological Origin of Gama-Ray Bursts

Abstract

We compare the burst distribution of the new (2B) BATSE catalogue to a cosmological distribution. We find that the distribution is insensitive to cosmological parameters such as Omega and Lambda and to the width of the bursts luminosity function. The maximal red shift of the long bursts is ~2.1 (assuming no evolution) while Zm(long) of the short bursts is significantly lower Zm(short) =~ 0.5 In agreement with this relatively nearby origin of the short burst we find an indication that these bursts are correlated ( >=2 sigma level at 10 degrees) with Abell clusters. This is the first known correlation of the bursts with any other astrophysical population and if confirmed by further observations it will provides additional evidence for the cosmological origin of those bursts.