AGILE Detection of Gamma-Ray Sources Coincident with Cosmic Neutrino Events
Abstract
The origin of cosmic neutrinos is still largely unknown. Using data obtained by the gamma-ray imager on board the Astro-rivelatore Gamma a Immagini Leggero (AGILE) satellite, we systematically searched for transient gamma-ray sources above 100 MeV that are temporally and spatially coincident with 10 recent high-energy neutrino IceCube events. We found three AGILE candidate sources that can be considered possible counterparts to neutrino events. Detecting three gamma-ray/neutrino associations out of 10 IceCube events is shown to be unlikely due to a chance coincidence. One of the sources is related to the BL Lac source TXS 0506+056. For the other two AGILE gamma-ray sources there are no obvious known counterparts, and both Galactic and extragalactic origin should be considered.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- January 2019
- DOI:
- 10.3847/1538-4357/aaf1c0
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1811.07689
- Bibcode:
- 2019ApJ...870..136L
- Keywords:
-
- astronomical databases: miscellaneous;
- BL Lacertae objects: general;
- gamma rays: galaxies;
- gamma rays: general;
- neutrinos;
- Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
- E-Print:
- 21 pages, 15 figures, 4 tables. Accepted for publication in ApJ