Muon Detection of TeV Gamma Rays from Gamma Ray Bursts

• Main Authors: J. Alvarez-muñiz, F. Halzen
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1998
• Subjects: Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.317.7786; http://arxiv.org/pdf/astro-ph/9902039v1.pdf

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. 1 I. MUON BURST ASTRONOMY. High energy gamma rays produce muons when interacting in the Earth’s atmosphere. These can be efficiently detected, and the direction of the parent gamma ray reconstructed, in relatively shallow underground “neutrino ” detectors [1] such as the now operating Antarctic