Cosmological Time Dilation in Gamma Ray Bursts?

Abstract

Norris et al. (1994) report that the temporal structure of faint gamma ray bursts is longer than that of bright bursts, as expected for time dilation in the cosmological models of burst origin. I show that the observed trends can easily be produced by a burst luminosity function and thus may not result from cosmological effects. A cosmological signature may be present, but the tests Norris et al. present are not powerful enough to detect these signatures.