ARE REPEATERS RESPONSIBLE FOR GAMMA-RAY BURST (V/VMAX)LESS-THAN-0.5

We show that gamma-ray bursts, observed by the Konus experiment on Venera 11 and Venera 12, from the three identified sources of short-term (< 1 yr) repeating bursts have a very low average [V/V(max)] of only 0.17 +/- 0.10 and are very important contributors to the low [V/V(max)] of 0.43 +/- 0.03 found from the entire Konus burst sample. We further point out that the expected number of additional, as yet unidentified, repeating sources is quite sufficient to account for the low Konus [V/V(max)], assuming that the [V/V(max)] for bursts from all other sources is 0.5. Thus we suggest that the class of short-term repeating gamma-ray burst sources, as yet only partially identified, are a high-luminosity population that could be responsible for the values of [V/V(max)] < 0.5 also found by the BATSE, SMM, and other gamma-ray burst experiments. We note, however, that repeating bursts cannot as yet be identified solely by their spectral and temporal properties.