A SEARCH FOR VERY-HIGH-ENERGY BURSTS

Of great importance in distinguishing between models for gamma-ray bur sts (GRBs) is the experimental determination of the highest energy gam ma rays associated with bursts. The EGRET detection of a 15 GeV gamma ray indicates that the spectra of at least some bursts extend well bey ond the several MeV limit of the BATSE detectors (Hurley et al., 1994) . The low expected flux means that the collecting area of the present generation of satellite-based detectors is too small to detect gamma r ays much above this energy efficiently, and such searches are currentl y undertaken with ground based detectors. In this paper searches made for very high energy GRBs with a southern hemisphere air shower partic le array are described.