GRB neutrino detection via time profile stacking

TL;DR

This paper introduces a time profile stacking method for detecting high-energy neutrinos from gamma ray bursts using large-scale neutrino telescopes, potentially revealing particle production details at the source.

Contribution

It presents a novel stacking technique that correlates neutrino signals with satellite observations to identify gamma ray burst neutrinos.

Findings

Significant detection possible with km³-scale telescope for low neutrino rates.

Method can identify time differences between gamma and neutrino signals.

Statistically significant signals achievable with current detector capabilities.

Abstract

A method is presented for the identification of high-energy neutrinos from gamma ray bursts by means of a large-scale neutrino telescope. The procedure makes use of a time profile stacking technique of observed neutrino induced signals in correlation with satellite observations. By selecting a rather wide time window, a possible difference between the arrival times of the gamma and neutrino signals may also be identified. This might provide insight in the particle production processes at the source. By means of a toy model it will be demonstrated that a statistically significant signal can be obtained with a km$^{3}$-scale neutrino telescope on a sample of 500 gamma ray bursts for a signal rate as low as 1 detectable neutrino for 3% of the bursts.