Issue |
A&A
Volume 418, Number 1, April IV 2004
|
|
---|---|---|
Page(s) | L5 - L8 | |
Section | Letters | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20040108 | |
Published online | 02 April 2004 |
Letter to the Editor
Neutral beam model for the anomalous γ-ray emission component in GRB 941017
1
Code 7653, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375-5352, USA
2
Centre de Recherches Mathématiques, Université de Montréal, Montréal, H3C 3J7, Canada e-mail: atoyan@crm.umontreal.ca
Corresponding author: C. D. Dermer, dermer@gamma.nrl.navy.mil
Received:
6
January
2004
Accepted:
4
March
2004
González et al. ([CITE]) have reported the discovery of an
anomalous radiation component from ≈1–200 MeV in GRB 941017. This component varies independently of and contains the energy found in the prompt ~50 keV–1 MeV
radiation component that is well described by the relativistic
synchrotron-shock model. Acceleration of hadrons to very high energies
can give rise to two additional emission components, one produced
inside the GRB blast wave and one associated with an escaping beam of
ultra-high energy (UHE;
1014 eV) neutrons, γ rays,
and neutrinos. The first component extending to ~100 MeV is from
a pair-photon cascade induced by photomeson processes with the
internal synchrotron photons coincident with the prompt radiation.
The outflowing UHE neutral beam can undergo further interactions with
external photons from the backscattered photon field to produce a beam
of hyper-relativistic electrons that lose most of their energy during
a fraction of a gyroperiod in the assumed Gauss-strength magnetic
fields of the circumburst medium. The synchrotron radiation of these
electrons has a spectrum with
index equal to +1 that can
explain the anomalous component in GRB 941017. This interpretation of
the spectrum of GRB 941017 requires a high baryon load of the
accelerated particles in GRB blast waves. It implies that most of the
radiation associated with the anomalous component is released at
500 MeV, suitable for observations with GLAST, and
with a comparable energy fluence in ~100 TeV neutrinos that
could be detected with a km-scale neutrino telescope like IceCube.
Key words: gamma ray bursts / cosmic rays / radiation processes
© ESO, 2004
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