Correlation in Gamma Ray Burst Time Delays between Pairs of Radio Photons

Abstract

We present a pilot study of time delays Δt in four GRB Radio Afterglow emissions, i.e., delays in the arrival times of radio waves of different frequencies emanating from eight GRB Radio Afterglows. Unlike in most studies on this phenomenon, we do not assume that this time delay is due to the Photon being endowed with a non-zero mass, but that this may very well be due to the interstellar space being a cold rarefied cosmic plasma, which medium's Electrons interact with the electric component of the Photon, thus generating tiny currents that lead to dispersion, hence, a frequency (ν ) dependent speed of Light where this speed scales off as 1 ν − . The said interaction is such that, lower frequency Photons will propagate at lower speeds than higher frequency Photons thus leading to the observed time delays in the arrivals times of Photons of different frequencies. In reasonable accord with the proposed model, we find that for four of these GRB afterglows, there is a strong unsolicited correlation between the observed time delays and the frequency. If this model can be corroborated by a large enough data set, there is hope that this same model might lead to a better understanding of the observed time delays in GRBs.