Gamma-ray bursts from baryon decay in neutron stars

The standard unbroken electroweak theory is known to erase the baryon numbe r. 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 merg er event. We argue that for certain double Higgs models with discrete symme tries this process may result in an expanding self-sustained burning front that would convert the entire neutron matter into radiation. This process w ould release similar to 10(54) ergs in electromagnetic radiation over simil ar to 10(-4) s with negligible baryonic contamination. The resulting fireba ll would have all of the properties necessary to produce a gamma-ray burst as a result of its interaction with ambient interstellar gas. The subsequen t Higgs decay would produce a millisecond burst of similar to 10(52) ergs i n similar to 100 GeV neutrinos, which might be observable. The above mechan ism may also cause electroweak baryogenesis in the early universe, which gi ves rise to the observed matter-antimatter asymmetry today.