Nuclear Reactions in the Early Stage of Binary Mergers and Their Connections to Short Gamma-Ray Bursts

Abstract This study proposes that energy from nuclear reactions can be a source for short gamma-ray bursts (SGRBs). I demonstrate that within the dynamical ejecta of binary mergers, nuclear reactions generate immense energy on the order of 10 50 erg s −1 or even higher from beta decay and up to 10 58 erg s −1 from neutron capture. The latter process produces highly variable energetic spikes, which provide a natural explanation for the rapid luminosity variability observed in the SGRB light curves. This finding challenges the traditional paradigm that SGRBs are solely magnetically powered and points to nuclear energy as an alternative contributor to SGRBs.