High-Energy Neutrinos and Cosmic Rays from Low-Luminosity Gamma-Ray Bursts?

Abstract

The recently discovered gamma-ray burst GRB 060218/SN 2006aj is classified as an X-ray flash with very long duration driven possibly by a neutron star. Since GRB 060218 is very near, ∼140 Mpc, and very dim, the 1 yr observation by Swift suggests that the rate of GRB 060218-like events might be very high so that such low-luminosity (LL) GRBs might form a different population from the cosmological high-luminosity (HL) GRBs. We found that the high-energy neutrino background from LL GRBs could be comparable with that from HL GRBs. If each neutrino event is detected by IceCube, later optical-infrared follow-up observations such as those by Subaru and HST can possibly identify a Type Ibc supernova associated with LL GRBs, even if gamma rays and X-rays are not observed by Swift. This is in a sense a new window from neutrino astronomy, which might enable us to confirm the existence of LL GRBs and to obtain information about their rate and origin. We also suggest that LL GRBs are high-energy gamma-ray and cosmic-ray sources.

Choked jets and low-luminosity gamma-ray bursts as hidden neutrino sources

“…[87] but also follows the SFR. Although the model uncertainty is rather large, we confirm the previous results that the EJ model may also give a significant contribution to the diffuse neutrino flux [29,30] at large obeserved energies (i.e. E ν, obs 1 PeV).…”

“…1 right panel). For EJs, prompt neutrino emission is produced together with prompt gamma-ray emission outside the star, identical to the scenario expected from classical GRBs [29,30,57].…”

“…E ν, obs 1 PeV). The spectral [81], and emergent jet (EJ) [29] components are shown. The shock breakout component has been updated to include the newest luminosity function and redshift evolution, while the EJ component is luminosity insensitive with the redshift evolution of Ref.…”

“…It is then reasonable to assume that a significant fraction of broad-line Type Ibc SNe or hypernovae, even those without accompanying GRBs, contain a choked jet such as in the CJ model. A joint investigation between IC and the ROTSE collaboration attempted to detect optical transients from Neutrino emission from LL GRBs is shown for the CJ-SB model (this work) and EJ model [29]. In addition, orphan neutrino emission from choked jets is included (thick curves).…”

“…In addition, choked jets that do not escape their progenitor star in the collapsar scenario -so called failed GRBs [26] have been suggested as possible sources for the observed diffuse neutrino flux [19,27,28]. The present stacking limits on prompt neutrino emission from classical highluminosity GRBs are not applicable to such low-power or dark GRBs, and these may give a significant contribution to the diffuse neutrino flux [29,30]. For the first time, we study the expected neutrino contribution from jets that successfully escape from their progenitor star, but are subsequently smothered by a dense, optically thick external material resulting in a LL GRB or a failed GRB.…”