A novel scenario is proposed for the origin of cosmological γ-ray bursts relating them with the induced collapse of an isolated neutron star under the action of a primordial black hole inside it. A mechanism is pointed out for black hole capturing into bounded orbits in a contracting protostellar cloud (which further evolves to a neutron star), and it is shown that this mechanism is most efficient in the pregalactic epoch. The qualitative results of neutrino transfer calculations are presented; these neutrinos originate from the quark phase transition in the nucleon matter which takes place in the accretion flow in the interior of the star. The neutrinos and antineutrinos escaping from a dense nucleon matter are degenerate and annihilate in the immediate vicinity of the star surface where an inverse temperature layer in the outstreaming electron-positron wind is produced. This layer acts as a natural barrier against baryon pollution and gives rise to a very high (≈ 103) value of the Lorentz factor in the expanding plasma, in agreement with the observed energy and duration of the process. This makes it possible to explain the main properties of the γ-ray bursts. We also consider other important features of this scenario, including the predominantly extragalactic origin of the bursts, the apparent absence of the cosmological time dilation, the excess drop in the number of bursts—luminosity dependence for z>0.7, and the unlikely corrllation between the burst and the gravitational wave pulse. © 1998 Plenum Publishing Corporation.
