New Explanation for the greatest cosmic explosions
space.com: There is a certain type of cosmic explosion that becomes, in a flash, the brightest thing in the universe, emitting for a few seconds as much radiation as a million galaxies, mainly at gamma radiation wavelengths. Most astronomers agree that only the birth of a black hole could supply enough spark for one of these intense flashes, but there remains a great deal of uncertainty over what converts the newborn black hole's energy into the radiation that astronomers detect.
Recent observations suggest that this "converter" is a high-powered magnetic beam, and not--as many theorists believe--a high-speed jet of hot material.
