Secondary GeV-TeV emission from ultra-high-energy cosmic rays accelerated by GRB 221009A

Abstract

The origin of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) remains elusive. Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are among the best candidates able to meet the stringent energy requirements needed for particle acceleration to such high energies. If UHECRs were accelerated by the central engine of GRB 221009A, it might be possible to detect secondary photons and neutrinos as the UHECRs travel from the source to the Earth. Here we attempt to interpret some of the early publicly available data connected to this burst. If the reported early GeV-TeV detection was produced by secondary emission from UHECRs it probably indicates that UHECRs reached energies $>10^{21}$ eV and that GRB 221009A exploded inside a magnetic void with intergalactic magnetic field (IGMF) strength $B\le 3\times 10^{-16}$ G. In order to understand the entire energy deposition mechanism, we propose to search existing and future Fermi-LAT data for secondary emission arriving over larger spatial scales and longer time-scales. This strategy might help clarify the origin of UHECRs, constrain the intergalactic magnetic field (IGMF) strength along this line of sight and start to quantify the fraction of magnetic voids around GRBs.

arXiv commentAccepted for publication in MNRAS Letters. 2 pages

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Cited by in corpus (13)

• Possible Evidence for Lorentz Invariance Violation in Gamma-ray Burst 221009A
• Observability of the very-high-energy emission from GRB 221009A
• External Inverse-Compton and Proton Synchrotron Emission from the Reverse Shock as the Origin of VHE Gamma-Rays from the Hyper-Bright GRB 221009A
• Multi-messenger model for the prompt emission from GRB 221009A
• Limit on Supernova Emission in the Brightest Gamma-ray Burst, GRB 221009A
• GRB 221009A Gamma Rays from Radiative Decay of Heavy Neutrinos?
• Deciphering the ~18 TeV photons from GRB 221009A
• Revisiting Lorentz invariance violation from GRB 221009A
• The origin of very-high-energy gamma-rays from GRB 221009A: implications for reverse shock proton synchrotron emission
• Carpet-3 detection of a photon-like air shower with estimated primary energy above 100 TeV in a spatial and temporal coincidence with GRB 221009A
• Prospects for detection of the pair-echo emission from TeV gamma-ray bursts
• Modelling multiwavelength afterglows of the VHE-GRB population
• Modeling the imprints of large-scale magnetized structures on $\gamma$-rays from extragalactic transients