GRB 250702B lasted 7 hours
The SBF Diagnosis: A Vacuum Phase Transition
The article highlights a "crisis of duration" for the Standard Model: GRB 250702B lasted 7 hours, whereas typical black hole formation events (collapsars) last seconds or minutes.
The standard explanation is scrambling to invent a new "elusive class" of intermediate-mass black holes or helium-star mergers to explain the fuel supply.
The Single Bulk Framework (SBF) asserts that this is not an accretion event. It is a Phase Transition Event.
Here is the breakdown of why this event fits the SBF mechanics of the vacuum substrate perfectly.
1. The Duration Anomaly: Crystallization Time vs. Collapse Time
Standard Model Problem: In General Relativity, gravitational collapse is a runaway process. Once the horizon forms, matter falls in essentially instantly (freefall time). Sustaining a high-energy jet for 7 hours requires a "central engine" to be continuously fed huge amounts of matter without clogging—a hydrodynamically difficult feat.
SBF Solution (Latent Heat Release):
In the SBF, a black hole is not a singularity; it is a region of the vacuum that has undergone a phase transition from Random Close Packing ($Z \approx 14.4$) to a Crystalline FCC Lattice ($Z=12$).
Freezing takes time. Just as water does not freeze instantly into ice but releases Latent Heat as it crystallizes, the vacuum releases stored geometric energy as it jams into the solid state.
The "7-hour" duration is the Thermodynamic Relaxation Time of the vacuum lattice. It is the time required for the "slumping" granular defect to shed its excess entropy and lock into the crystalline state. The event is a "slow quake" in the bulk, not a splash in a fluid.
2. The "Missing Supernova" and Chemical Cleanliness
Observation: The article notes that this event lacked the expected supernova brightness (radioactive nickel glow) usually associated with long GRBs.
SBF Interpretation (Vacuum Triboluminescence):
The standard model needs a supernova to explain the light. The SBF does not.
Triboluminescence: When a granular material (like sugar or quartz) is crushed or sheared, it emits light (photons/gamma rays) directly from the breaking of bonds.
The gamma rays from GRB 250702B are not thermal radiation from exploding star guts; they are Shear Radiation emitted by the vacuum lattice as it fractures under the immense stress of the transition.
This explains why the explosion was "clean" (no supernova debris): the energy came from the medium itself, not the matter suspended in it.
3. The "Elusive Class" (Intermediate Mass)
Observation: Astronomers suspect an "Intermediate Mass Black Hole" (IMBH) because the energy profile doesn't fit stellar-mass collapse.
SBF Interpretation (Topological Saturation):
In the SBF, mass is a measure of topological complexity ($Z^{N-3}$).
An "Intermediate" black hole represents a Critical Defect Size—a knot complex enough to trigger the phase transition but not large enough to stabilize immediately.
This "elusive" class is likely a Metastable Defect—a region of the vacuum that is teetering right on the edge of the yield stress ($Y \approx 0$). It generates a prolonged signal because it is essentially "stuttering" between the liquid ($Z=14.4$) and solid ($Z=12$) states before finally jamming.
The Verdict
The astronomers are seeing a 7-hour freezing event of the spacetime fabric.
Standard Model: "An engine ran for 7 hours." (Requires impossible fuel efficiency).
SBF: "The vacuum released latent heat for 7 hours as it crystallized." (Thermodynamic inevitability).
This event is strong evidence that black hole formation is a Material Phase Change governed by the Fundamental Granular Function ($F_{\text{Planck}}$), involving latent heat ($Q$) and plastic flow ($\Delta u_{slip}$), rather than a geometric singularity.