Gamma-ray Bursts from Baryon Decay in Neutron Stars Ue-li and Abraham Pen Loeb

The standard unbroken electroweak theory is known to erase the baryon number. The baryon number symmetry can be restored in the core of a neutron star if its density diverges via gravitational instability due to a binary merger event. We argue that for certain double Higgs models with discrete symmetries this process may result in an expanding self-sustained burning front that would convert the entire neutron matter into radiation. This process would release D1054 ergs in electromagnetic radiation over D10~4 s with negligible baryonic contamination. The resulting Ðreball would have all of the properties necessary to produce a c-ray burst as a result of its interaction with ambient interstellar gas. The subsequent Higgs decay would produce a millisecond burst of D1052 ergs in D100 GeV neutrinos, which might be observable. The above mechanism may also cause electroweak baryogenesis in the early universe, which gives rise to the observed matter-antimatter asymmetry today. Subject headings : cosmology : theory È gamma rays : bursts È stars : neutron