Non-photonic emission from gamma-ray bursts

Abstract

gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are likely sources of ultra-high energy, >10^{19} eV, protons and high energy, >1 TeV, neutrinos. Large volume detectors of ultra high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) and high energy neutrinos, which are already operating and are being expanded, may allow to test in the coming few years the predictions of the GRB model for high energy proton and neutrino production. Detection of the predicted signals will allow to identify the sources of UHECRs and will provide a unique probe, which may allow to resolve open questions related to the underlying physics of GRB models. Moreover, detection of GRB neutrinos will allow to test for neutrino properties (e.g., flavor oscillations for which tau's would be a unique signature, and coupling to gravity) with an accuracy many orders of magnitude better than is currently possible.