Search for: All records

ABSTRACT Using blazar light curves from the optical All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae (ASAS-SN) and the γ-ray Fermi-LAT telescope, we performed the most extensive statistical correlation study between both bands, using a sample of 1180 blazars. This is almost an order of magnitude larger than other recent studies. Blazars represent more than 98 per cent of the AGNs detected by Fermi-LAT and are the brightest γ-ray sources in the extragalactic sky. They are essential for studying the physical properties of astrophysical jets from central black holes. However, their γ-ray flare mechanism is not fully understood. Multiwavelength correlations help constrain the dominant mechanisms of blazar variability. We search for temporal relationships between optical and γ-ray bands. Using a Bayesian Block Decomposition, we detect 1414 optical and 510 γ-ray flares, we find a strong correlation between both bands. Among all the flares, we find 321 correlated flares from 133 blazars, and derive an average rest-frame time delay of only 1.1$$_{-8.5}^{+7.1}$$ d, with no difference between the flat-spectrum radio quasars, BL Lacertae-like objects or low, intermediate, and high-synchrotron peaked blazar classes. Our time-delay limit rules out the hadronic proton-synchrotron model as the driver for non-orphan flares and suggests a leptonic single-zone model. Limiting our search to well-defined light curves and removing 976 potential but unclear ‘orphan’ flares, we find 191 (13 per cent) and 115 (22 per cent) clear ‘orphan’ optical and γ-ray flares. The presence of ‘orphan’ flares in both bands challenges the standard one-zone blazar flare leptonic model and suggests multizone synchrotron sites or a hadronic model for some blazars. 

Abstract In this work, we present the results of searches for signatures of dark matter decay or annihilation into Standard Model particles, and secret neutrino interactions with dark matter.Neutrinos could be produced in the decay or annihilation of galactic or extragalactic dark matter.Additionally, if an interaction between dark matter and neutrinos exists then dark matter will interact with extragalactic neutrinos.In particular galactic dark matter will induce an anisotropy in the neutrino sky if this interaction is present.We use seven and a half years of the High-Energy Starting Event (HESE) sample data, which measures neutrinos in the energy range of approximately 60 TeV to 10 PeV, to study these phenomena.This all-sky event selection is dominated by extragalactic neutrinos.For dark matter of ∼ 1 PeV in mass, we constrain the velocity-averaged annihilation cross section to be smaller than 10^-23cm³/s for the exclusiveμ⁺μ^-channel and 10^-22cm³/s for the bb̅ channel.For the same mass, we constrain the lifetime of dark matter to be larger than 10²⁸s for all channels studied, except for decaying exclusively to bb̅ where it is bounded to be larger than 10²⁷s.Finally, we also search for evidence of astrophysical neutrinos scattering on galactic dark matter in two scenarios.For fermionic dark matter with a vector mediator, we constrain the dimensionless coupling associated with this interaction to be less than 0.1 for dark matter mass of 0.1 GeV and a mediator mass of 10^-4GeV.In the case of scalar dark matter with a fermionic mediator, we constrain the coupling to be less than 0.1 for dark matter and mediator masses below 1 MeV. 

Abstract Atmospheric muon neutrinos are produced by meson decays in cosmic-ray-induced air showers. The flux depends on meteorological quantities such as the air temperature, which affects the density of air. Competition between decay and re-interaction of those mesons in the first particle production generations gives rise to a higher neutrino flux when the air density in the stratosphere is lower, corresponding to a higher temperature. A measurement of a temperature dependence of the atmospheric$$\nu _{\mu }$$ ${\nu }_{\mu }$flux provides a novel method for constraining hadronic interaction models of air showers. It is particularly sensitive to the production of kaons. Studying this temperature dependence for the first time requires a large sample of high-energy neutrinos as well as a detailed understanding of atmospheric properties. We report the significant ($$> 10 \; \sigma $$ $>10\sigma$) observation of a correlation between the rate of more than 260,000 neutrinos, detected by IceCube between 2012 and 2018, and atmospheric temperatures of the stratosphere, measured by the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument aboard NASA’s AQUA satellite. For the observed 10$$\%$$ $\%$seasonal change of effective atmospheric temperature we measure a 3.5(3)$$\%$$ $\%$change in the muon neutrino flux. This observed correlation deviates by about 2-3 standard deviations from the expected correlation of 4.3$$\%$$ $\%$as obtained from theoretical predictions under the assumption of various hadronic interaction models. 

Abstract Beginning in 2016, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory has sent out alerts in real time containing the information of high-energy (E≳ 100 TeV) neutrino candidate events with moderate to high (≳30%) probability of astrophysical origin. In this work, we use a recent catalog of such alert events, which, in addition to events announced in real time, includes events that were identified retroactively and covers the time period of 2011–2020. We also search for additional, lower-energy neutrinos from the arrival directions of these IceCube alerts. We show how performing such an analysis can constrain the contribution of rare populations of cosmic neutrino sources to the diffuse astrophysical neutrino flux. After searching for neutrino emission coincident with these alert events on various timescales, we find no significant evidence of either minute-scale or day-scale transient neutrino emission or of steady neutrino emission in the direction of these alert events. This study also shows how numerous a population of neutrino sources has to be to account for the complete astrophysical neutrino flux. Assuming that sources have the same luminosity, anE^−2.5neutrino spectrum, and number densities that follow star formation rates, the population of sources has to be more numerous than 7 × 10⁻⁹Mpc⁻³. This number changes to 3 × 10⁻⁷Mpc⁻³if number densities instead have no cosmic evolution. 

The origin of high-energy cosmic rays, atomic nuclei that continuously impact Earth’s atmosphere, is unknown. Because of deflection by interstellar magnetic fields, cosmic rays produced within the Milky Way arrive at Earth from random directions. However, cosmic rays interact with matter near their sources and during propagation, which produces high-energy neutrinos. We searched for neutrino emission using machine learning techniques applied to 10 years of data from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. By comparing diffuse emission models to a background-only hypothesis, we identified neutrino emission from the Galactic plane at the 4.5σ level of significance. The signal is consistent with diffuse emission of neutrinos from the Milky Way but could also arise from a population of unresolved point sources. 

Abstract The understanding of novae, the thermonuclear eruptions on the surfaces of white dwarf stars in binaries, has recently undergone a major paradigm shift. Though the bolometric luminosity of novae was long thought to arise directly from photons supplied by the thermonuclear runaway, recent gigaelectronvolt (GeV) gamma-ray observations have supported the notion that a significant portion of the luminosity could come from radiative shocks. More recently, observations of novae have lent evidence that these shocks are acceleration sites for hadrons for at least some types of novae. In this scenario, a flux of neutrinos may accompany the observed gamma rays. As the gamma rays from most novae have only been observed up to a few GeV, novae have previously not been considered as targets for neutrino telescopes, which are most sensitive at and above teraelectronvolt (TeV) energies. Here, we present the first search for neutrinos from novae with energies between a few GeV and 10 TeV using IceCube-DeepCore, a densely instrumented region of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory with a reduced energy threshold. We search both for a correlation between gamma-ray and neutrino emission as well as between optical and neutrino emission from novae. We find no evidence for neutrino emission from the novae considered in this analysis and set upper limits for all gamma-ray detected novae. 

Abstract The D-Egg, an acronym for “Dual optical sensors in an Ellipsoid Glass for Gen2,” is one of the optical modules designed for future extensions of the IceCube experiment at the South Pole. The D-Egg has an elongated-sphere shape to maximize the photon-sensitive effective area while maintaining a narrow diameter to reduce the cost and the time needed for drilling of the deployment holes in the glacial ice for the optical modules at depths up to 2700 m. The D-Egg design is utilized for the IceCube Upgrade, the next stage of the IceCube project also known as IceCube-Gen2 Phase 1, where nearly half of the optical sensors to be deployed are D-Eggs. With two 8-inch high-quantum efficiency photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) per module, D-Eggs offer an increased effective area while retaining the successful design of the IceCube digital optical module (DOM). The convolution of the wavelength-dependent effective area and the Cherenkov emission spectrum provides an effective photodetection sensitivity that is 2.8 times larger than that of IceCube DOMs. The signal of each of the two PMTs is digitized using ultra-low-power 14-bit analog-to-digital converters with a sampling frequency of 240 MSPS, enabling a flexible event triggering, as well as seamless and lossless event recording of single-photon signals to multi-photons exceeding 200 photoelectrons within 10 ns. Mass production of D-Eggs has been completed, with 277 out of the 310 D-Eggs produced to be used in the IceCube Upgrade. In this paper, we report the design of the D-Eggs, as well as the sensitivity and the single to multi-photon detection performance of mass-produced D-Eggs measured in a laboratory using the built-in data acquisition system in each D-Egg optical sensor module. 

Abstract Core-collapse supernovae are a promising potential high-energy neutrino source class. We test for correlation between seven years of IceCube neutrino data and a catalog containing more than 1000 core-collapse supernovae of types IIn and IIP and a sample of stripped-envelope supernovae. We search both for neutrino emission from individual supernovae as well as for combined emission from the whole supernova sample, through a stacking analysis. No significant spatial or temporal correlation of neutrinos with the cataloged supernovae was found. All scenarios were tested against the background expectation and together yield an overall p -value of 93%; therefore, they show consistency with the background only. The derived upper limits on the total energy emitted in neutrinos are 1.7 × 10 48 erg for stripped-envelope supernovae, 2.8 × 10 48 erg for type IIP, and 1.3 × 10 49 erg for type IIn SNe, the latter disfavoring models with optimistic assumptions for neutrino production in interacting supernovae. We conclude that stripped-envelope supernovae and supernovae of type IIn do not contribute more than 14.6% and 33.9%, respectively, to the diffuse neutrino flux in the energy range of about [ 10 3 –10 5 ] GeV, assuming that the neutrino energy spectrum follows a power-law with an index of −2.5. Under the same assumption, we can only constrain the contribution of type IIP SNe to no more than 59.9%. Thus, core-collapse supernovae of types IIn and stripped-envelope supernovae can both be ruled out as the dominant source of the diffuse neutrino flux under the given assumptions. 

Abstract This paper presents the results of a search for neutrinos that are spatially and temporally coincident with 22 unique, nonrepeating fast radio bursts (FRBs) and one repeating FRB (FRB 121102). FRBs are a rapidly growing class of Galactic and extragalactic astrophysical objects that are considered a potential source of high-energy neutrinos. The IceCube Neutrino Observatory’s previous FRB analyses have solely used track events. This search utilizes seven years of IceCube cascade events which are statistically independent of track events. This event selection allows probing of a longer range of extended timescales due to the low background rate. No statistically significant clustering of neutrinos was observed. Upper limits are set on the time-integrated neutrino flux emitted by FRBs for a range of extended time windows.