BATSE GAMMA-RAY BURST LINE SEARCH .1. SEARCH FOR NARROW LINES IN SPECTROSCOPY DETECTOR DATA

Analysis of data from the Spectroscopy Detectors (SDs) of the Burst an d Transient Source Experiment (BATSE) on the Compton Gamma Ray Observa tory (GRO) has found no convincing line features in the spectra of gam ma-ray bursts (GRBs) in almost 3 years of operation, in contrast to ex pectations based on results from other experiments. In this Letter we discuss the visual search for narrow lines in the SD data. The search has examined 192 bursts, of which approximately 18 were intense enough that lines similar to those seen by instruments on the Ginga satellit e would have been visible between approximately 20 and approximately 1 00 keV. A simplified calculation shows that the BATSE and Ginga result s are consistent at the 13% level.