Dr. Paul LaViolette: Was the December 26, 2004 Indonesian Earthquake and Tsunami Caused by a Stellar Explosion 45,000 Light Years Away?

    On December 26,
      2004 a magnitude 9.3
      earthquake occurred in the Indian Ocean off the coast of
      Sumatra in Malaysia.  It caused a powerful tsunami which
      devastated coastal regions of many countries leaving over 240,000
      people either dead or missing.  It was the worst tsunami
      to affect this area since the 1883 explosion of Krakatao.  The
      earthquake that produced it was so strong that it exceeded by
      a factor of 10 the next most powerful earthquake to occur anywhere
      in the past 25 years.

• Indonesian 9.3 Richter earthquake:
           December 26, 2004 at 00
      hours 58 minutes
      (Universal Time)

It is then with some alarm that we learn
      that just 44.6 hours later gamma ray telescopes orbiting
      the Earth picked up the arrival of the brightest gamma ray burst
      ever recorded!

• Gamma ray burst arrival:
           December 27, 2004 at 21
      hours 36 minutes
      (Universal Time)

      
      

    This gamma ray
      blast was 100 times more intense than any burst that had been
      previously recorded, equaling the brightness of the full Moon,
      but radiating most of its energy at gamma ray wavelengths.  Gamma
      ray counts spiked to a maximum in 1.5 seconds and then declined
      over a 5 minute period with 7.57 second pulsations.  The
      blast temporarily changed the shape the Earth’s ionosphere, distorting
      the transmission of long-wavelength radio signals.  See
      stories on Space.com,
      BBC
      News, NY
      TImes.

      Artists conception, courtesy of NASA

     It was
      determined that the burst originated from the soft gamma ray
      repeater star, SGR 1806-20, a neutron star 20 kilometers in diameter
      which rotates once every 7.5 seconds, matching the GRB pulsation
      period.  SGR 1806-20 is located about 10 degrees northeast
      of the Galactic center and about 20,000 to 32,000 light years
      from us, or about as far away as the Galactic center.  (Originally,
      it had been thought to be 45,000 light years from us. but new
      results place it closer.) The outburst released more energy
      in a tenth of a second than the Sun emits in 100,000 years.  Other
      gamma ray bursts have been detected whose explosions were intrinsically
      more powerful than this one at the source of the explosion, but
      since those explosions originated in other galaxies tens of thousands
      of times more distant, the bursts were not nearly as bright when
      they reached our solar system.  What makes the December
      27th gamma ray burst unique is that it is the first time that
      a burst this bright has been observed, one that also happens
      to originate from within our own Galaxy.

     Astronomers
      have theorized that gamma ray bursts might travel in association
      with gravity wave bursts.  In the course of their flight
      through space, gamma rays would be deflected by gravitational
      fields and would be scattered by dust and cosmic ray particles
      they encountered, so they would be expected to travel slightly
      slower than their associated gravity wave burst which would pass
      through space unimpeded.  After a 45,000 year light-speed
      journey, a gamma ray burst arrival delay of 44.6 hours would
      not be unexpected.  It amounts to a delay of just one part
      in 9 million.  So if the gravity wave traveled at the speed
      of light (c), the gamma ray burst would have averaged a speed
      of 0.99999989 c, just 0.11 millionths slower.  There is
      also the possibility that at the beginning of its journey the
      gravity wave may have had a superluminal speed; see textbox below.

      Artist’s conception, courtesy of NASA

     The 9.3
      Richter earthquake was ten times stronger than any other earthquake
      during the past 25 years, and was followed just 44.6 hours
      later on December 27th by a very intense gamma ray burst,
      which was 100 fold brighter than any other in the past 25 year
      history of gamma ray observation. It seems difficult to pass
      off the temporal proximity of these two Class I events as being
      just a matter of coincidence.  A time period of 25 years
      compared to a time separation of 44.6 hours amounts to a time
      ratio of about 5000:1.  For two such unique events to have
      such a close time proximity is highly improbable if they
      are not somehow related.  But, as mentioned above, gravity
      waves would very likely be associated with gamma ray bursts,
      and they would be expected to precede them.

    Many have inquired
      if there might be a connection between these two events (e.g.,
      see the Space.com
      article).  Not thinking of the gravity wave connection,
      astronomers have been reluctant to admit there might be a connection
      since they know of no mechanism by which gamma rays by themselves
      could trigger earthquakes.  They admit that the December
      27th gamma ray burst had slightly affected the ionization state
      of the Earth’s atmosphere, but this by itself should not have
      caused earthquakes.  However, if a longitudinal gravity
      potential wave pulse were to accompany a gamma ray burst, the
      mystery becomes resolved.  The connection between earthquakes
      and gamma ray bursts now becomes plausible.

     In his
      1983 Ph.D. dissertation,
      Paul LaViolette called attention to terrestrial dangers of Galactic
      core explosions, pointing out that the arrival of the cosmic
      ray superwave they produced would be signaled by a high intensity
      gamma ray burst which would also generate EMP effects (e.g.,
      see Page 3). 
      He also noted that a strong gravity wave might be expected to
      travel forward at the forefront of this superwave and might be
      the first indication of a superwave’s arrival.  He pointed
      out that such gravity waves could induce substantial tidal forces
      on the Earth during their passage which could induce earthquakes
      and cause polar axis torquing effects. 

       

[Please note, the gravity potential gradient
        associated with a stellar explosion or core explosion would drop
        off in intensity inversely with distance traveled (according
        to 1/r), and would not drop off as the inverse cube of distance
        as some have claimed on the internet.  That is, it does
        not have a force-distance dependence similar to the lunar tidal
        force.  So the impact would be quite significant.  The
        mathematics are worked out in the above reference.]

In his book Earth
      Under Fire (as well as in his dissertation), LaViolette
      presents evidence showing that the superwave that passed through
      the solar system around 14,200 years ago had triggered supernova
      explosions as it swept through the Galaxy.  Among these
      were the Vela and Crab supernova explosions whose explosion dates
      align with this superwave event horizon.  He points out
      that these explosions could be explained if a gravity wave accompanied
      this superwave, it could have produced tidal forces which could
      have triggered unstable stars to explode as it passed through.   

    He wrote at a
      time when gamma ray bursts had just begun to be discovered, and
      when no one was concerned with them as potential terrestrial
      hazards.  In recent years scientific opinion has come around
      to adopt LaViolette’s concern, as can be seen in news articles
      discussing the SGR 1806-20 gamma ray outburst, e.g., see Space.com
      news story.  They note that if this gamma ray burst
      had been as close as 10 light years it would have completely
      destroyed the ozone layer.  By comparison, the Galactic
      superwaves LaViolette has postulated to have been generated as
      a result of an outburst of our Galaxy’s core and to have impacted
      the Solar system during the last ice age would have impacted
      the solar system with a cosmic ray electron volley having an
      energy intensity 100 times greater than this hypothetical 10
      light year distant stellar gamma ray burst.   In
      comparision, SGR 1806-20 has been estimated to have a stellar
      progenitor mass of 150 solar masses, whereas our Galactic core
      has a mass of 2.6 million solar masses.  In its present
      active phase, SGR 1806-20 is estimated to have a luminosity 40
      million times that of the Sun, whereas during its active phase
      the Galactic center could reach luminosities of 400 trillion
      times that of the Sun.   So it is understandable that
      if the Galactic center were to erupt, it would produce a gamma
      ray burst and a gravity wave far more intense than the outburst
      from this star.

     If anything,
      the December 27, 2004 gamma ray burst shows us that we do not
      live in a peaceful celestial environment.  And if the December
      26th earthquake was in fact part of this same celestial event,
      we see that this stellar eruption has claimed many lives.  For
      this reason, it is important that we prepare for the possibility
      of even stronger events in the future, the arrival of superwaves
      issuing from the core of our Galaxy.  Like the December
      26th earthquake and the December 27th gamma ray burst, the next
      superwave will arrive unexpectedly.  It will take us by
      surprise.
      

      
      

       

         

         

       

      

Before

After

 

     It would
      have been possible to determine whether a Galactic gravity wave
      had indeed immediately preceded the December 26th earthquake
      by examining data from gravity wave telescopes.  Since seismic
      waves from the Indonesian earthquake would have taken some time
      to propagate through the Earth to these gravity wave antenna,
      their signature could be distinguished from the gravity wave
      coming from SGR 1806-20.  However, the major gravity wave
      telescopes were unfortunately not on line at that time.   LIGO (Laser
      Interferometer Gravity Wave Observatory), which consists of two
      correlated telescopes, one in Washington state and one in Louisiana,
      each having a four kilometer long laser interferometer beam path,
      was in the process of being made operational and unfortunately
      was not collecting data at that time.   We sent an
      email to the staff of the TAMA gravity wave antenna in Japan.
       Dr. Takahashi, who is responsible for the detector, replied
      that their telescope was unfortunately not operating during that
      week since they were making modifications at that time.  So
      at present the gravity wave hypothesis remains neither confirmed
      nor disproven.

The December 27th GRB was not accompanied
      by any rise in the cosmic ray background, indicating that if
      it was accompanied by cosmic rays their intensity was unable
      to exceed the relatively constant extragalactic background flux
      arriving from distant galaxies.  A Galactic superwave, on
      the other hand, would most likely produce a substantial rise
      in these levels.

   Note that almost two
      months passed before the December 27th gamma ray burst found
      its way into news media stories.  If unusually intense activity
      were to occur in the near future as the beginning stages of a
      superwave arrival, it is hoped that scientists will not keep
      this knowledge to themselves but rather allow the global news
      media to disseminate the story quickly to inform the world.