High Energy Neutrinos from Cosmological Gamma-Ray Burst Fireballs

Abstract

Observations suggest that $\ensuremath{\gamma}$-ray bursts (GRBs) are produced by the dissipation of the kinetic energy of a relativistic fireball. We show that a large fraction, $\ensuremath{\ge}10%$, of the fireball energy is expected to be converted by photomeson production to a burst of $\ensuremath{\sim}{10}^{14}\mathrm{eV}$ neutrinos. A ${\mathrm{km}}^{2}$ neutrino detector would observe at least several tens of events per year correlated with GRBs, and test for neutrino properties (e.g., flavor oscillations, for which upward moving $\ensuremath{\tau}$'s would be a unique signature, and coupling to gravity) with an accuracy many orders of magnitude better than is currently possible.