Neutral beam model for the anomalous γ-ray emission component in GRB 941017

Gonzalez et al. (2003) have reported the discovery of an anomalous radiation component from approximate to1-200 MeV in GRB 941017. This component varies independently of and contains greater than or similar to3x the energy found in the prompt similar to50 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 all escaping beam of ultra-high energy (UHE; greater than or similar to10(14) eV) neutrons, gamma rays, and neutrinos. The first component extending to similar to100 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 Call 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 vF(v) 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 similar to100 TeV neutrinos that Could he detected with a kin-scale neutrino telescope like IceCube.