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1 Introduction

The phenomenon of the occurrence of powerful bursts of gamma rays lasting several seconds is still lacking an explanation. The recent discovery of an X-ray afterglow for several bursts by the BeppoSAX satellite ([Costa et al. 1997]) has led to the detection of high red-shift absorbtion lines in the optical afterglow of some of them ([Kulkarni et al. 1998]), giving a clear indication of the cosmological distance of these objects. A plausible model for the source of a cosmological GRB is the coalescence of compact binary systems (Piran 1999). If so, GRBs should be associated with an emission of gravitational waves. Possible scenarios have been conceived, most of them suggesting GW fluxes below the sensitivity of presently operating GW detectors. If the source is assumed to be at a distance of 1 Gpc, the GW burst associated with the total conversion into GWs of 1 $M_{\odot}$, has an amplitude of the order of $h \approx 3 \ 10^{-22}$, while the present sensitivity of the best operating GW antennas with SNR = 1 is $h \approx 4 \ 10^{-19}$ ([Modestino et al. 1998]). However due to the complete novelty of this phenomenon we have considered it worthwhile to explore whether a correlation between GRBs and data collected with the GW antenna EXPLORER ([Astone et al. 1993]) exists.


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