Neutrino emission from the direction of the blazar TXS 0506+056 prior to the IceCube-170922A alert
Abstract
A high-energy neutrino event detected by IceCube on 22 September 2017 was coincident in direction and time with a gamma-ray flare from the blazar TXS 0506+056. Prompted by this association, we investigated 9.5 years of IceCube neutrino observations to search for excess emission at the position of the blazar. We found an excess of high-energy neutrino events, with respect to atmospheric backgrounds, at that position between September 2014 and March 2015. Allowing for time-variable flux, this constitutes 3.5σ evidence for neutrino emission from the direction of TXS 0506+056, independent of and prior to the 2017 flaring episode. This suggests that blazars are identifiable sources of the high-energy astrophysical neutrino flux.
- Publication:
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Science
- Pub Date:
- July 2018
- DOI:
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1807.08794
- Bibcode:
- 2018Sci...361..147I
- Keywords:
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- ASTRONOMY; PHYSICS;
- Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena;
- High Energy Physics - Experiment
- E-Print:
- Science 361, 147-151 (2018)