TY - JOUR
T1 - Sub-PeV neutrinos from TeV unidentified sources in the galaxy
AU - Fox, D. B.
AU - Kashiyama, K.
AU - Mészarós, P.
PY - 2013/9/1
Y1 - 2013/9/1
N2 - The IceCube collaboration discovery of 28 high-energy neutrinos over the energy range 30 TeV ≲ εν ≲ 1 PeV, a 4.3σ excess over expected backgrounds, represents the first high-confidence detection of cosmic neutrinos at these energies. In light of this discovery, we explore the possibility that some of the sub-PeV cosmic neutrinos might originate in our Galaxy's TeV unidentified (TeV UnID) sources. While typically resolved at TeV energies, these sources lack prominent radio or X-ray counterparts, and so have been considered promising sites for hadron acceleration within our Galaxy. Modeling the TeV UnID sources as Galactic hypernova remnants, we predict sub-PeV neutrino fluxes and spectra consistent with their contributing a minority of n ν ≲ 2 of the observed events. This is consistent with our analysis of the spatial distribution of the sub-PeV neutrinos and TeV UnID sources, which finds that a best-fit of one, and maximum of 3.8 (at 90% confidence), of the 16 non-atmospheric sub-PeV neutrinos may originate in the TeV UnID sources, with the remaining 75%-95% of events being drawn from an isotropic background. If our scenario is correct, we expect excess sub-PeV neutrinos to accumulate along the Galactic plane, within |ℓ| ≲ ± 30° of the Galactic center and in the Cygnus region, as observations by IceCube and other high-energy neutrino facilities go forward. Our scenario also has implications for radio, X-ray, and TeV observations of the TeV UnID sources.
AB - The IceCube collaboration discovery of 28 high-energy neutrinos over the energy range 30 TeV ≲ εν ≲ 1 PeV, a 4.3σ excess over expected backgrounds, represents the first high-confidence detection of cosmic neutrinos at these energies. In light of this discovery, we explore the possibility that some of the sub-PeV cosmic neutrinos might originate in our Galaxy's TeV unidentified (TeV UnID) sources. While typically resolved at TeV energies, these sources lack prominent radio or X-ray counterparts, and so have been considered promising sites for hadron acceleration within our Galaxy. Modeling the TeV UnID sources as Galactic hypernova remnants, we predict sub-PeV neutrino fluxes and spectra consistent with their contributing a minority of n ν ≲ 2 of the observed events. This is consistent with our analysis of the spatial distribution of the sub-PeV neutrinos and TeV UnID sources, which finds that a best-fit of one, and maximum of 3.8 (at 90% confidence), of the 16 non-atmospheric sub-PeV neutrinos may originate in the TeV UnID sources, with the remaining 75%-95% of events being drawn from an isotropic background. If our scenario is correct, we expect excess sub-PeV neutrinos to accumulate along the Galactic plane, within |ℓ| ≲ ± 30° of the Galactic center and in the Cygnus region, as observations by IceCube and other high-energy neutrino facilities go forward. Our scenario also has implications for radio, X-ray, and TeV observations of the TeV UnID sources.
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U2 - 10.1088/0004-637X/774/1/74
DO - 10.1088/0004-637X/774/1/74
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84883061402
SN - 0004-637X
VL - 774
JO - Astrophysical Journal
JF - Astrophysical Journal
IS - 1
M1 - 74
ER -