Limit on high energy neutrino emission from Abell 119 using IceCube 10-year muon track data

summary

The gist

A search for high-energy muon neutrino emission from Abell 119 was conducted using 10 years of IceCube muon track data to test whether this galaxy cluster could be a source of neutrinos that might

In short

Researchers searched for high-energy muon neutrinos from Abell 119 using 10 years of IceCube data to test if this cluster could explain recent GeV gamma-ray detections suggesting a hadronic origin. The search found no statistically significant excess, setting an upper limit on the neutrino flux at 100 TeV. This result is lower than the predicted flux required by the gamma-ray model.

Key concepts

Abell 119: This is a specific galaxy cluster that was investigated as a potential source of high-energy neutrinos. The study looked for evidence that this cluster might be responsible for cosmic ray interactions leading to neutrino production, linking it to recent gamma-ray observations.
Hadronic Origin: This refers to a theoretical model where high-energy gamma rays are produced through interactions involving cosmic ray protons within the intra-cluster medium. The study tested if neutrinos from this same hadronic process could be detected, as neutrinos are expected in such hadronic scenarios.
IceCube Muon Track Data: This refers to a large dataset of events recorded by the IceCube neutrino telescope over a decade. The analysis used this data to search for neutrino signals coming specifically from the direction of Abell 119, using muon tracks as the primary signal channel.
Upper Limit on Flux: Since no signal was found, the study calculated an upper limit on how strong a neutrino flux could possibly be. This limit is a constraint, meaning it shows that if neutrinos exist from this source, their energy output must be less than the calculated value.

Terminology used across episodes

Reinforcement Learning (RL) — explained in 24 episodes
Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) — explained in 16 episodes
Interpretability — explained in 15 episodes
Sample Complexity — explained in 15 episodes
Federated Learning — explained in 14 episodes
Generalization — explained in 13 episodes

This episode discusses

The paper

Limit on high energy neutrino emission from Abell 119 using IceCube 10-year muon track data · Read on arXiv

Sri Devaki Meduri, Shantanu Desai

Department of Physics, IIT Hyderabad

We carry out a search for high energy muon neutrino emission from the galaxy cluster Abell 119, motivated by a recent tentative detection of GeV gamma-ray emission from this cluster using the Fermi-LAT telescope, which hinted at a hadronic origin. For this purpose, we used the 10-year muon track data from 2008-2018, provided by the IceCube Collaboration and implement the unbinned maximum likelihood method. We do not find any statistically significant excess and the observed value of the test statistic is consistent with a null result. We then obtain upper limits (at 90% confidence level) on the differential muon neutrino energy flux from this cluster, whose value is equal to 1.2 times 10-9 GeV cm-2 s-1 at a pivot energy of 100 TeV, after assuming a neutrino spectral index of 2.0. The neutrino flux expected under the hadronic interpretation is, however, approximately an order of magnitude smaller than our flux limit, and hence the hadronic model cannot be ruled out based on our upper limit. Among the next generation neutrino detectors, IceCube-Gen2 and TRIDENT neutrino detector should be able to confirm or rule out a hadronic origin for the gamma-ray emission in Abell 119 with 10 years of exposure.

Transcript

Introduction to the show: ident: Astrophysics Radio. Generated commentary on the latest astrophysics papers.

Vera: I'm Vera, and with me are Jocelyn and Subrahmanyan, guest researcher.

Jocelyn: Today's paper: "Limit on high energy neutrino emission from Abell 119 using IceCube 10-year muon track data".

Vera: A search for high-energy muon neutrino emission from Abell 119 was conducted using 10 years of IceCube muon track data to test whether this galaxy cluster could be a source…

Jocelyn: First, who's behind it and why it matters.

Paper summary: Vera: Wrapping up our discussion on "Limit on high energy neutrino emission from Abell one hundred nineteen using IceCube ten-year muon track data," the authors clearly show that while they didn't find a signal, their upper limits are very important constraints <ref:2605.11966#pg0,Limit on high energy neutrino emission from Abell 119 using IceCube 10>.

Jocelyn: They essentially established an upper bound of two point four two times ten-ten GeV cm-two s-one sr-one for the differential muon neutrino energy flux at one hundred TeV, which sets a tangible limit on what we should expect.

Subrahmanyan: This result tells us that the cluster Abell one hundred nineteen based on this specific dataset and modeling, does not appear to be a primary source of high-energy neutrinos at this scale <ref:2605.11966#pg0>.

Vera: And the implication is that if those GeV gamma rays are hadronic in origin, then the required neutrino flux might be lower than what previous estimates suggested, which is something we need to keep looking into.

Jocelyn: It really frames the future work beautifully: they point out that additional data from future neutrino detectors should be able to definitively rule out a hadronic origin for the emission.

Subrahmanyan: That future observational synergy between neutrino and gamma-ray astrophysics is what makes this paper so valuable in constraining our models of hadronic processes in galaxy clusters <ref:2605.11966#pg2>.

Vera: So, to summarize, the authors used IceCube data to find no significant excess for Abell one hundred nineteen but the upper limit they set is still very relevant for testing those hadronic gamma-ray models <ref:2605.11966#pg0>.

Jocelyn: It's a clear demonstration of how observational constraints from one field can directly inform and refine theories in another.

Subrahmanyan: We're hoping that future instruments will be able to push past this current limit to really nail down the nature of these high-energy emissions in cluster environments.

Conclusion: Vera: So, we're wrapping up our discussion on the paper "Limit on high energy neutrino emission from Abell one hundred nineteen using IceCube ten-year muon track data." The authors did a solid job setting an upper limit on neutrino flux from this galaxy cluster based on ten years of IceCube data.

Jocelyn: I think the title itself tells you exactly what this paper is about, focusing on that specific Abell one hundred nineteen and using those long-term muon tracks to constrain what's going on in the universe.

Subrahmanyan: From a theoretical standpoint, it’s really interesting because it directly tests a hypothesis we have about how high-energy particles interact within these massive structures.

Vera: Exactly, and the implication is that this study gives us a very tight constraint—a ceiling—on how many neutrinos could actually be coming from Abell one hundred nineteen if those gamma rays are hadronic.

Jocelyn: It’s important because it helps us decide if we should keep expecting to see a neutrino signal from this specific cluster in future observations.

Subrahmanyan: And what this limit tells us is that if the theoretical prediction for the neutrino flux based on the gamma-ray emission is too high, then we can start questioning whether that hadronic origin model fits the data as well.

Vera: It really shows how these different types of astrophysics—gamma rays and neutrinos—can work together to test complex physical models in extreme environments like galaxy clusters.

Jocelyn: So, what does this mean for our next steps in looking at these massive structures?

Subrahmanyan: We need to keep pushing the sensitivity of future detectors because this current limit is right near the predicted flux we saw before.

More episodes

← Home