Study of Gamma-Ray Bursts of energy E>10 GeV with the ARGO-YBJ detector

The study of high energy gamma-ray bursts can be performed by large area air shower arrays operating at very high mountain altitudes. ARGO-YBJ is a detector optimized to observe small size air showers, to be constructed at the Yangbajing Laboratory (Tibet, P.R. China) at an altitude of 4300 m. One of the goals of the experiment is the study of Gamma-Ray Bursts of energies E > 10 GeV. This can be achieved using the "single particle" technique, more profitable in the energy region E < 50 GeV, and the "low multiplicity" technique, suitable to observe GRBs at higher energies. The sensitiviy of ARGO-YBJ allows the detection of GRBs with energy fluences in the range 1--100 GeV as low as F~10^{-6} -- 10^{-5} erg cm^{-2}, depending on the spectral characteristics of the burst.