  Gamma-ray bursts are characterized by a duration of milliseconds to several
minutes in which an enormous amount of radiation is emitted. The origin of
these phenomena is still unknown because proposed models fail to explain all
the observed features. Our proposed solution to this conundrum is a new class
of mass-exchanging binaries in which a neutron star transfers mass to a black
hole. According to recent studies binaries which contain a neutron star and a
black hole are much more frequent than was previously believed. Mass exchange
is driven by the emission of gravitational waves but the redistribution of mass
in the binary system prevents coalescence. The phase of mass transfer is
surprisingly stable and lasts for several thousands of orbital revolutions
(about a minute). With a simple analytic model we demonstrated that this new
class of binaries could provide an excellent candidate for the observed
phenomena known as gamma-ray bursts.
