  Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are promising as sources of neutrinos and cosmic
rays. In the internal shock scenario, blobs of plasma emitted from a central
engine collide within a relativistic jet and form shocks, leading to particle
acceleration and emission. Motivated by present experimental constraints and
sensitivities, we improve the predictions of particle emission by investigating
time-dependent effects from multiple shocks. We produce synthetic light curves
with different variability timescales that stem from properties of the central
engine. For individual GRBs, qualitative conclusions about model parameters,
neutrino production efficiency, and delays in high-energy gamma rays can be
deduced from inspection of the gamma-ray light curves. GRBs with fast time
variability without additional prominent pulse structure tend to be efficient
neutrino emitters, whereas GRBs with fast variability modulated by a broad
pulse structure can be inefficient neutrino emitters and produce delayed
high-energy gamma-ray signals. Our results can be applied to quantitative tests
of the GRB origin of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays, and have the potential to
impact current and future multi-messenger searches.
