Muon Detection of TeV Gamma Rays from Gamma Ray Bursts

Abstract

Because of the limited size of the satellite-borne instruments, it has not been possible to observe the flux of gamma ray bursts (GRB) beyond GeV energy. We here show that it is possible to detect the GRB radiation of TeV energy and above, by detecting the muon secondaries produced when the gamma rays shower in the Earth's atmosphere. Observation is made possible by the recent commissioning of underground detectors (AMANDA, the Lake Baikal detector and MILAGRO) which combine a low muon threshold of a few hundred GeV or less, with a large effective area of 10^3 m^2 or more. Observations will not only provide new insights in the origin and characteristics of GRB, they also provide quantitative information on the diffuse infrared background.

Revtex, 12 pages, 3 postscript figures, uses epsfig.sty

References in corpus (2)

• Ultra high energy neutrinos from gamma ray bursts
• Gamma Ray Bursts from Baryon Decay in Neutron Stars

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Search for high-energy muon neutrinos from the "naked-eye" GRB 080319B with the IceCube neutrino telescope
• The First Limits on the Ultra-high Energy Neutrino Fluence from Gamma-ray Bursts
• Spatial and Energy Distribution of Muons in Gamma-induced Air Showers
• Detectability of Prompt TeV Gamma Rays of Proton Synchrotron Origin from Gamma Ray Bursts by AMANDA/ICECUBE Detectors
• On the detection of TeV gamma-rays from GRB with km-cube neutrino telescopes --- I. Muon event rate from single GRBs
• Ultrahigh Energy Cosmic Rays and Prompt TeV Gamma Rays from Gamma Ray Bursts
• Muon pair production by photons in atmosphere: Is any room left for high-energy muon astronomy?
• Search for muon neutrinos from Gamma-Ray Bursts with the IceCube neutrino telescope