COSMIC-RAYS AND GAMMA-RAY BURSTS

The nature of cosmic gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), still unsettled 30 years after their discovery, is the most intriguing astrophysical problem c urrently. In a recent Physics-Uspekhi review [1], a theory relating th eir origin to the Solar system periphery, as well as the galactic and metagalactic hypotheses are discussed. For the latter two, the total G RB energy release proves to be large enough to enable cosmic rays (CRs ) to be simultaneously produced by the same source. In this paper a fo urth approach, the present author's 'interstellar' hypothesis [3] is d iscussed which also permits the simultaneous production of CRs and GRB s in cosmic plasma pinches.