2001ApJ...551..249D

Currently popular models for progenitors of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the mergers of compact objects and the explosions of massive stars. These two cases have distinctive environments for GRBs: compact object mergers occur in the interstellar medium (ISM) and the explosions of massive stars occur in the preburst stellar wind. We here discuss neutrino afterglows from reverse shocks as a result of the interaction of relativistic fireballs with their surrounding wind matter. After comparing with the analytical result of Waxman & Bahcall for the homogeneous ISM case, we find that the differential spectrum of neutrinos with energy from ∼3x10¹⁵ to ∼3x10¹⁷ eV in the wind case is softer by 1 power of the energy than in the ISM case. Furthermore, the expected flux of upward moving muons produced by neutrino interactions below a detector on the surface of the Earth in the wind case is ∼5 events.yr^–1.km^–2, which is about 1 order of magnitude larger than in the ISM case. In addition, these properties are independent of whether the fireballs are isotropic or beamed. Therefore, neutrino afterglows, if detected, may provide a way of distinguishing between GRB progenitor models based on the differential spectra of neutrinos and their event rates in a detector.