Searching for High-energy Neutrino Emission from Galaxy Clusters with IceCube
The Astrophysical Journal Letters American Astronomical Society 938:2 (2022) L11-L11
Authors:
R Abbasi, M Ackermann, J Adams, JA Aguilar, M Ahlers, M Ahrens, JM Alameddine, AA Alves, NM Amin, K Andeen, T Anderson, G Anton, C Argüelles, Y Ashida, S Athanasiadou, S Axani, X Bai, A Balagopal V., M Baricevic, SW Barwick, V Basu, R Bay, JJ Beatty, K-H Becker, J Becker Tjus
Abstract:
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
