High energy cosmic-rays and neutrinos from cosmological gamma-ray burst fireballs

Abstract

The recent detection of delayed, low energy emission from Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) sources confirmed the cosmological origin of the bursts and provided support for models where GRBs are produced by the dissipation of the kinetic energy of relativistic fireballs. In this review, ultra high energy, >10^{19} eV, cosmic-ray and high energy, 100 TeV, neutrino production in GRBs is discussed in the light of recent GRB and cosmic-ray observations. Emphasis is put on model predictions that can be tested with operating and planned cosmic-ray and neutrino detectors. The predicted neutrino intensity, E^2 dN/dE=3\times 10^{-9} GeV/(cm^2 s sr) for 10^{14} eV<E<10^{16} eV, implies that a km^2 neutrino detector would observe tens of events per year correlated with GRBs, and will be able to test for neutrino properties with an accuracy many orders of magnitude better than is currently possible. The predicted production rate of high-energy protons, which is consistent with that required to account for the observed ultra-high-energy cosmic-ray (UHECR) flux, implies that operating and planned cosmic-ray detectors can test the GRB model for UHECR production. If the predicted sources are found, cosmic-ray detectors will provide us with a technique to investigate the inter-galactic magnetic field.