Searches for Neutrinos from Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory Ultra-high-energy γ-Ray Sources Using the IceCube Neutrino Observatory

• Published in: Astrophysical journal. Letters 2023-03, Vol.945 (1), p.L8
• Main Authors: Abbasi, R., Ahlers, M., Anderson, T., Ashida, Y., Becker, K.-H., Beise, J., Bellenghi, C., Botner, O., Braun, J., Burley, R. T., Campana, M. A., Chen, C., Choi, K., Countryman, S., Dave, P., De Clercq, C., Dembinski, H., Desai, A., Díaz-Vélez, J. C., Eller, P., Evenson, P. A., Fan, K. L., Fazely, A. R., Fedynitch, A., Fienberg, A. T., Fox, D., Friedman, E., Fritz, A., Gallagher, J., Ganster, E., Glüsenkamp, T., Gray, S. J., Hallgren, A., Halzen, F., Haungs, A., Helbing, K., Heuermann, L., Hill, C., Hill, G. C., Hoffman, K. D., In, S., Iovine, N., Kang, D., Kang, W., Karg, T., Karle, A., Katz, U., Kauer, M., Kelley, J. L., Kiryluk, J., Kolanoski, H., Köpke, L., Kowalski, M., Kurahashi, N., Lazar, J. P., Leszczyńska, A., Lohfink, E., Ma, W. Y., Mead, J. V., Mechbal, S., Meier, M., Meighen-Berger, S., Merckx, Y., Montaruli, T., Naab, R., Nowicki, S. C., O’Sullivan, E., Parker, G. K., Paudel, E. N., Paul, L., Plum, M., Procter-Murphy, R., Rhode, W., Roberts, E. J., Rongen, M., Ruhe, T., Safa, I., Salazar-Gallegos, D., Sarkar, S., Schaufel, M., Schneider, J., Skrzypek, B., Smithers, B., Soedingrekso, J., Stuttard, T., Toscano, S., Tosi, D., Turcotte, R., Vandenbroucke, J., Santen, J. van, Veitch-Michaelis, J., Weindl, A., Wendt, C., Weyrauch, M., Wiebusch, C. H., Willey, N., Yanez, J. P., Yildizci, E., Zhang, Z., Zhelnin, P.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Altitude; ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; Cosmic ray showers; Cosmic rays; Crab nebula; Emission analysis; Galactic cosmic rays; Gamma ray sources; Gamma rays; High altitude; High energy astronomy; High energy astrophysics; Interstellar gas; Interstellar matter; Interstellar medium; Nebulae; Neutrino astronomy; Neutrinos; Observatories; Pulsar winds; Pulsars; Searching; Space telescopes; Stellar winds; Supernova; Supernova remnants
• ISSN: 2041-8205; 2041-8213; 2041-8213
• DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/acb933

Galactic PeV cosmic-ray accelerators (PeVatrons) are Galactic sources theorized to accelerate cosmic rays up to PeV in energy. The accelerated cosmic rays are expected to interact hadronically with nearby ambient gas or the interstellar medium, resulting in γ -rays and neutrinos. Recently, the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO) identified 12 γ -ray sources with emissions above 100 TeV, making them candidates for PeVatrons. While at these high energies the Klein–Nishina effect exponentially suppresses leptonic emission from Galactic sources, evidence for neutrino emission would unequivocally confirm hadronic acceleration. Here, we present the results of a search for neutrinos from these γ -ray sources and stacking searches testing for excess neutrino emission from all 12 sources as well as their subcatalogs of supernova remnants and pulsar wind nebulae with 11 yr of track events from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. No significant emissions were found. Based on the resulting limits, we place constraints on the fraction of γ -ray flux originating from the hadronic processes in the Crab Nebula and LHAASO J2226+6057.