Mechanisms and Distance
The issue of how far away the sources of gamma ray bursts lie is central to
proposed mechanisms. If they were local, the required energy in gamma rays is
large but not so large. In that case, simpler explanations like "starquakes" in
the crusts of neutron stars might be capable of producing them. But if they are
at very large distances as the data are now indicating,
their intrinsic luminosity must be much too large for
a simple explanation like neutron starquakes to be adequate.