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

Abstract

The recently discovered gamma-ray burst (GRB) 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 about 140 Mpc and very dim, one-year observation by Swift suggests that the rate of GRB 060218-like events might be very high so that such low luminosity GRBs (LL-GRBs) might form a different population from the cosmological high luminosity GRBs (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 by Subaru and HST have possibilities to identify a Type Ibc supernova associated with LL-GRBs, even if gamma- 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 argue LL-GRBs as high energy gamma-ray and cosmic-ray sources.