Search for steady point-like sources in the astrophysical muon neutrino flux with 8 years of IceCube data

M.G. Aartsen; M. Ackermann; J. Adams; J.A. Aguilar; Markus Tobias Ahlers; Etienne Bourbeau; Michael James Larson; Morten Ankersen Medici; Subir Sarkar; Thomas Simon Stuttard; D. Jason Koskinen; M Rameez; M. Ahrens; D. Altman; K. Andeen; T. Anderson; I Ansseau; Icecube Collaboration

doi:10.1140/epjc/s10052-019-6680-0

Search for steady point-like sources in the astrophysical muon neutrino flux with 8 years of IceCube data

M.G. Aartsen, M. Ackermann, J. Adams, J.A. Aguilar, Markus Tobias Ahlers, Etienne Bourbeau, Michael James Larson, Morten Ankersen Medici, Subir Sarkar, Thomas Simon Stuttard, D. Jason Koskinen, M Rameez, M. Ahrens, D. Altman, K. Andeen, T. Anderson, I Ansseau, Icecube Collaboration

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Abstract

The IceCube Collaboration has observed a high-energy astrophysical neutrino flux and recently found evidence for neutrino emission from the blazar TXS 0506+ 056. These results open a new window into the high-energy universe. However, the source or sources of most of the observed flux of astrophysical neutrinos remains uncertain. Here, a search for steady point-like neutrino sources is performed using an unbinned likelihood analysis. The method searches for a spatial accumulation of muon-neutrino events using the very high-statistics sample of about 497,000 neutrinos recorded by IceCube between 2009 and 2017. The median angular resolution is ∼ 1 ^∘ at 1 TeV and improves to ∼ 0. 3 ^∘ for neutrinos with an energy of 1 PeV. Compared to previous analyses, this search is optimized for point-like neutrino emission with the same flux-characteristics as the observed astrophysical muon-neutrino flux and introduces an improved event-reconstruction and parametrization of the background. The result is an improvement in sensitivity to the muon-neutrino flux compared to the previous analysis of ∼ 35 % assuming an E ^{- 2} spectrum. The sensitivity on the muon-neutrino flux is at a level of E2dN/dE=3·10-13TeVcm-2s-1. No new evidence for neutrino sources is found in a full sky scan and in an a priori candidate source list that is motivated by gamma-ray observations. Furthermore, no significant excesses above background are found from populations of sub-threshold sources. The implications of the non-observation for potential source classes are discussed.

Original language	English
Article number	234
Journal	European Physical Journal C
Volume	79
Issue number	3
Number of pages	19
ISSN	1434-6044
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-019-6680-0
Publication status	Published - 1 Mar 2019

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Aartsen, M. G., Ackermann, M., Adams, J., Aguilar, J. A., Ahlers, M. T., Bourbeau, E., Larson, M. J., Medici, M. A., Sarkar, S., Stuttard, T. S., Koskinen, D. J., Rameez, M., Ahrens, M., Altman, D., Andeen, K., Anderson, T., Ansseau, I., & Icecube Collaboration (2019). Search for steady point-like sources in the astrophysical muon neutrino flux with 8 years of IceCube data. European Physical Journal C, 79(3), [234]. https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-019-6680-0

Aartsen, MG, Ackermann, M, Adams, J, Aguilar, JA, Ahlers, MT, Bourbeau, E, Larson, MJ, Medici, MA, Sarkar, S, Stuttard, TS, Koskinen, DJ, Rameez, M, Ahrens, M, Altman, D, Andeen, K, Anderson, T, Ansseau, I & Icecube Collaboration 2019, 'Search for steady point-like sources in the astrophysical muon neutrino flux with 8 years of IceCube data', European Physical Journal C, vol. 79, no. 3, 234. https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-019-6680-0

@article{70d78cf398db43ae9674d6a4fc01a7f2,

title = "Search for steady point-like sources in the astrophysical muon neutrino flux with 8 years of IceCube data",

abstract = " The IceCube Collaboration has observed a high-energy astrophysical neutrino flux and recently found evidence for neutrino emission from the blazar TXS 0506+ 056. These results open a new window into the high-energy universe. However, the source or sources of most of the observed flux of astrophysical neutrinos remains uncertain. Here, a search for steady point-like neutrino sources is performed using an unbinned likelihood analysis. The method searches for a spatial accumulation of muon-neutrino events using the very high-statistics sample of about 497,000 neutrinos recorded by IceCube between 2009 and 2017. The median angular resolution is ∼ 1 ∘ at 1 TeV and improves to ∼ 0. 3 ∘ for neutrinos with an energy of 1 PeV. Compared to previous analyses, this search is optimized for point-like neutrino emission with the same flux-characteristics as the observed astrophysical muon-neutrino flux and introduces an improved event-reconstruction and parametrization of the background. The result is an improvement in sensitivity to the muon-neutrino flux compared to the previous analysis of ∼ 35 % assuming an E - 2 spectrum. The sensitivity on the muon-neutrino flux is at a level of E2dN/dE=3·10-13TeVcm-2s-1. No new evidence for neutrino sources is found in a full sky scan and in an a priori candidate source list that is motivated by gamma-ray observations. Furthermore, no significant excesses above background are found from populations of sub-threshold sources. The implications of the non-observation for potential source classes are discussed. ",

author = "M.G. Aartsen and M. Ackermann and J. Adams and J.A. Aguilar and Ahlers, {Markus Tobias} and Etienne Bourbeau and Larson, {Michael James} and Medici, {Morten Ankersen} and Subir Sarkar and Stuttard, {Thomas Simon} and Koskinen, {D. Jason} and M Rameez and M. Ahrens and D. Altman and K. Andeen and T. Anderson and I Ansseau and {Icecube Collaboration}",

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doi = "10.1140/epjc/s10052-019-6680-0",

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T1 - Search for steady point-like sources in the astrophysical muon neutrino flux with 8 years of IceCube data

AU - Aartsen, M.G.

AU - Ackermann, M.

AU - Adams, J.

AU - Aguilar, J.A.

AU - Ahlers, Markus Tobias

AU - Bourbeau, Etienne

AU - Larson, Michael James

AU - Medici, Morten Ankersen

AU - Sarkar, Subir

AU - Stuttard, Thomas Simon

AU - Koskinen, D. Jason

AU - Rameez, M

AU - Ahrens, M.

AU - Altman, D.

AU - Andeen, K.

AU - Anderson, T.

AU - Ansseau, I

AU - Icecube Collaboration

PY - 2019/3/1

Y1 - 2019/3/1

N2 - The IceCube Collaboration has observed a high-energy astrophysical neutrino flux and recently found evidence for neutrino emission from the blazar TXS 0506+ 056. These results open a new window into the high-energy universe. However, the source or sources of most of the observed flux of astrophysical neutrinos remains uncertain. Here, a search for steady point-like neutrino sources is performed using an unbinned likelihood analysis. The method searches for a spatial accumulation of muon-neutrino events using the very high-statistics sample of about 497,000 neutrinos recorded by IceCube between 2009 and 2017. The median angular resolution is ∼ 1 ∘ at 1 TeV and improves to ∼ 0. 3 ∘ for neutrinos with an energy of 1 PeV. Compared to previous analyses, this search is optimized for point-like neutrino emission with the same flux-characteristics as the observed astrophysical muon-neutrino flux and introduces an improved event-reconstruction and parametrization of the background. The result is an improvement in sensitivity to the muon-neutrino flux compared to the previous analysis of ∼ 35 % assuming an E - 2 spectrum. The sensitivity on the muon-neutrino flux is at a level of E2dN/dE=3·10-13TeVcm-2s-1. No new evidence for neutrino sources is found in a full sky scan and in an a priori candidate source list that is motivated by gamma-ray observations. Furthermore, no significant excesses above background are found from populations of sub-threshold sources. The implications of the non-observation for potential source classes are discussed.

AB - The IceCube Collaboration has observed a high-energy astrophysical neutrino flux and recently found evidence for neutrino emission from the blazar TXS 0506+ 056. These results open a new window into the high-energy universe. However, the source or sources of most of the observed flux of astrophysical neutrinos remains uncertain. Here, a search for steady point-like neutrino sources is performed using an unbinned likelihood analysis. The method searches for a spatial accumulation of muon-neutrino events using the very high-statistics sample of about 497,000 neutrinos recorded by IceCube between 2009 and 2017. The median angular resolution is ∼ 1 ∘ at 1 TeV and improves to ∼ 0. 3 ∘ for neutrinos with an energy of 1 PeV. Compared to previous analyses, this search is optimized for point-like neutrino emission with the same flux-characteristics as the observed astrophysical muon-neutrino flux and introduces an improved event-reconstruction and parametrization of the background. The result is an improvement in sensitivity to the muon-neutrino flux compared to the previous analysis of ∼ 35 % assuming an E - 2 spectrum. The sensitivity on the muon-neutrino flux is at a level of E2dN/dE=3·10-13TeVcm-2s-1. No new evidence for neutrino sources is found in a full sky scan and in an a priori candidate source list that is motivated by gamma-ray observations. Furthermore, no significant excesses above background are found from populations of sub-threshold sources. The implications of the non-observation for potential source classes are discussed.

U2 - 10.1140/epjc/s10052-019-6680-0

DO - 10.1140/epjc/s10052-019-6680-0

M3 - Journal article

SN - 1434-6044

VL - 79

JO - The European Physical Journal C: Particles and Fields

JF - The European Physical Journal C: Particles and Fields

IS - 3

M1 - 234

ER -

Search for steady point-like sources in the astrophysical muon neutrino flux with 8 years of IceCube data

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