High-energy cosmic-ray nuclei from high- and low-luminosity gamma-ray bursts and implications for multimessenger astronomy

Journal Article · Tue Jul 15 04:00:00 UTC 2008 · Physical Review. D, Particles Fields

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVD.78.023005· OSTI ID:21250309

Murase, Kohta; Nagataki, Shigehiro ^[1]; Ioka, Kunihito ^[2]; Nakamura, Takashi ^[3]

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1. Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics, Kyoto University, Oiwake-cho, Kitashirakawa, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8502 (Japan)
2. Theory Division, KEK (High Energy Accelerator Research Organization), 1-1 Oho, Tsukuba 305-0801 (Japan)
3. Department of Physics, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502 (Japan)

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are one of the candidates of ultrahigh-energy (> or approx. 10{sup 18.5} eV) cosmic-ray (UHECR) sources. We investigate high-energy cosmic-ray acceleration including heavy nuclei in GRBs by using Geant 4, and discuss its various implications, taking both high-luminosity (HL) and low-luminosity (LL) GRBs into account. This is because LL GRBs may also make a significant contribution to the observed UHECR flux if they form a distinct population. We show that not only protons, but also heavier nuclei can be accelerated up to ultrahigh energies in the internal, (external) reverse, and forward shock models. We also show that the condition for ultrahigh-energy heavy nuclei such as iron to survive is almost the same as that for {approx}TeV gamma rays to escape from the source and for high-energy neutrinos not to be much produced. The multimessenger astronomy by neutrino and GeV-TeV gamma-ray telescopes such as IceCube and KM3Net, GLAST and MAGIC will be important to see whether GRBs can be accelerators of ultrahigh-energy heavy nuclei. We also demonstrate expected spectra of high-energy neutrinos and gamma rays, and discuss their detectabilities. In addition, we discuss implications of the GRB-UHECR hypothesis. We point out, since the number densities of HL GRBs and LL GRBs are quite different, its determination by UHECR observations is also important.

• OSTI ID: 21250309
• Journal Information: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Journal Name: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 78; ISSN PRVDAQ; ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
ACCELERATION
ACCELERATORS
ASTRONOMY
COSMIC GAMMA BURSTS
DENSITY
EEV RANGE
GAMMA RADIATION
GEV RANGE
HEAVY NUCLEI
HYPOTHESIS
IRON
LUMINOSITY
NEUTRINOS
PROTONS
SPECTRA
TELESCOPES
TEV RANGE