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Abstract When a star undergoes core collapse, a vast amount of energy is released in a ∼10 s long burst of neutrinos of all species. Inverse beta decay in the star’s hydrogen envelope causes an electromagnetic cascade that ultimately results in a flare of gamma rays—an “echo” of the neutrino burst—at the characteristic energy of 0.511 MeV. We study the phenomenology and detectability of this flare. Its luminosity curve is characterized by a fast, seconds-long rise and an equally fast decline, with a minute- or hour-long plateau in between. For a near-Earth star (distanceD≲ 1 kpc) the echo will be observable at near future gamma-ray telescopes with an effective area of 10³cm²or larger. Its observation will inform us on the envelope size and composition. In conjunction with the direct detection of the neutrino burst, it will also give information on the neutrino emission away from the line of sight and will enable tests of neutrino propagation effects between the stellar surface and Earth. 

Abstract We discuss implications that can be obtained by searches for neutrinos from the brightest gamma-ray burst (GRB), GRB 221009A. We derive constraints on GRB model parameters such as the cosmic-ray loading factor and dissipation radius, taking into account both neutrino spectra and effective areas. The results are strong enough to constrain proton acceleration near the photosphere, and we find that the single burst limits are comparable to those from stacking analysis. Quasi-thermal neutrinos from subphotospheres and ultra-high-energy neutrinos from external shocks are not yet constrained. We show that GeV–TeV neutrinos originating from neutron collisions are detectable, and urge dedicated analysis on these neutrinos with DeepCore and IceCube as well as ORCA and KM3NeT.