Search for High-energy Neutrinos from Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies with IceCube

• Ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) have infrared luminosities L-IR >= 10(12) L-circle dot, making them the most luminous objects in the infrared sky. These dusty objects are generally powered by starbursts with star formation rates that exceed 100M(circle dot) yr(-1), possibly combined with a contribution from an active galactic nucleus. Such environments make ULIRGs plausible sources of astrophysical high-energy neutrinos, which can be observed by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole. We present a stacking search for high-energy neutrinos from a representative sample of 75 ULIRGs with redshift z <= 0.13 using 7.5 yr of IceCube data. The results are consistent with a background-only observation, yielding upper limits on the neutrino flux from these 75 ULIRGs. For an unbroken E-2.5 power-law spectrum, we report an upper limit on the stacked flux Phi(90%)(nu mu+(nu) over bar mu) = 3.24 x 10(-14) TeV-1 cm(-2) S-1 (E/10 TeV)(-2.5) at 90% confidence level. In addition, we constrain the contribution of the ULIRG source population to the observed diffuse astrophysical neutrino flux as well as model predictions.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik -- Astronomi, astrofysik och kosmologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences -- Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences (hsv//eng)

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)