  The standard unbroken electroweak theory is known to erase baryon number. The
baryon number symmetry can be restored in the core of a neutron star as its
density diverges via gravitational instability due to a binary merger event. We
argue that for certain double Higgs models with discrete symmetries, this
process may result in an expanding self-sustained burning front which would
convert the entire neutron matter into radiation. This process would release
~10^{54} ergs in electromagnetic radiation over ~10^{-4} sec, with negligible
baryonic contamination. The resulting fireball would have all the properties
necessary to produce a gamma-ray burst as a result of its interaction with
ambient interstellar gas. The subsequent Higgs decay would produce a
millisecond burst of ~10^{52} ergs in ~100 GeV neutrinos which might be
observable. The above mechanism may have also caused electroweak baryogenesis
in the early universe, giving rise to the observed matter-antimatter asymmetry
today.
