Search for Extended Sources of Neutrino Emission in the Galactic Plane with IceCube
Abstract
The Galactic plane, harboring a diffuse neutrino flux, is a particularly interesting target in which 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 2.6σ post-trials, is a 1.°7 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.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- October 2023
- DOI:
- 10.3847/1538-4357/acf713
- arXiv:
- arXiv:2307.07576
- Bibcode:
- 2023ApJ...956...20A
- Keywords:
-
- Neutrino astronomy;
- 1100;
- Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena;
- Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies;
- High Energy Physics - Experiment
- E-Print:
- 13 pages, 4 figures, 5 tables including an appendix. Accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal