Searching for High-energy Neutrino Emission from Galaxy Clusters with IceCube

Journal article

The Galactic plane, harboring a diffuse neutrino flux, is a particularly interesting target to study potential cosmic-ray acceleration sites. Recent gamma-ray observations by HAWC and LHAASO have presented evidence for multiple Galactic sources that exhibit a spatially extended morphology and have energy spectra continuing beyond 100 TeV. A fraction of such emission could be produced by interactions of accelerated hadronic cosmic rays, resulting in an excess of high-energy neutrinos clustered near these regions. Using 10 years of IceCube data comprising track-like events that originate from charged-current muon neutrino interactions, we perform a dedicated search for extended neutrino sources in the Galaxy. We find no evidence for time-integrated neutrino emission from the potential extended sources studied in the Galactic plane. The most significant location, at 2.6$\sigma$ post-trials, is a 1.7$^\circ$ sized region coincident with the unidentified TeV gamma-ray source 3HWC J1951+266. We provide strong constraints on hadronic emission from several regions in the Galaxy.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, 5 tables including an appendix. Accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journa

Authors: Abbasi, R; Ackermann, M; Adams, J; Aguilar, JA; Ahlers, M

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: American Astronomical Society
• Journal: The Astrophysical Journal Letters
• Volume: 938
• Issue: 2
• Pages: L11-L11
• Publication date: 2022-10-14
• DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ac966b
• EISSN: 2041-8213
• ISSN: 2041-8205
• Language: English
• Keywords: Flux (metallurgy); Galaxy cluster; Muon; Galaxy; Astrophysics; Physics; Particle physics; Redshift; Neutrino; Astronomy