ANTARES search for point-sources of neutrinos using astrophysical catalogs: a likelihood stacking analysis

• Published in: arXiv.org 2020-12
• Main Authors: Albert, A, Anghinolfi, M, Anton, G, Aublin, J, Baret, B, Basa, S, Belhorma, B, Biagi, S, Bissinger, M, Boumaaza, J, Bouta, M, Bouwhuis, M C, Branzas, H, Bruijn, R, Busto, J, Capone, A, Caramete, L, Carretero, V, Celli, S, Chabab, M, Chau, T N, Moursli, R, Chiarusi, T, Circella, M, Colomer-Molla, M, Coniglione, R, Coyle, P, Creusot, A, Diaz, A F, Deschamps, A, Distefano, C, I di Palma, Donzaud, C, Dornic, D, Eberl, T, Enzenhofer, A, Fermani, P, Filippini, F, Fusco, L, Gatelet, Y, Gay, P, Glotin, H, Gozzini, R, Gracia, R, Graf, K, Guidi, C, Haren, H, Heijboer, A J, Hello, Y, Hernandez-Rey, J J, Hössl, J, Huang, F, Jisse-Jung, B, Jong, P, Kadler, M, Kalekin, O, Katz, U, Kouchner, A, Kreykenbohm, I, Kulikovskiy, V, Lahmann, R, Breton, R, Lefèvre, D, Levi, G, Lincetto, M, Lopez-Coto, D, Maderer, L, Manczak, J, Marcelin, M, Mazzou, S, Melis, K, Migliozzi, P, Moser, M, Moussa, A, Muller, R, Navas, S, Nezri, E, Nunez-Castineyra, A, Palavas, G E, Pellegrino, C, Perrin-Terrin, M, Piattelli, P, Popa, V, Pradier, T, Riccobene, G, Samtleben, D F, Sanchez-Losa, A, Schussler, F, Spurio, M, Stolarczyk, Th, Taiuti, M, Tayalati, Y, Thakore, T, Vallage, B, Elewyck, V, Viola, S, Wilms, J, Zornoza, J D, Zuniga, J, Buson, S
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Active galactic nuclei; Astronomical catalogs; Blazars; Equivalence; Gamma rays; Neutrinos; Radio galaxies; Stacking; Star formation
• ISSN: 2331-8422
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2012.15082

A search for astrophysical point-like neutrino sources using the data collected by the ANTARES detector between January 29, 2007 and December 31, 2017 is presented. A likelihood stacking method is used to assess the significance of an excess of muon neutrinos inducing track-like events in correlation with the location of a list of possible sources. Different sets of objects are tested in the analysis: a) a sub-sample of the \textit{Fermi} 3LAC catalog of blazars, b) a jet-obscured AGN population, c) a sample of soft gamma-ray selected radio galaxies, d) a star-forming galaxy catalog , and e) a public sample of 56 very-high-energy track events from the IceCube experiment. None of the tested sources shows a significant association with the sample of neutrinos detected by ANTARES. The smallest p-value is obtained for the radio galaxies catalog with an equal weights hypothesis, with a pre-trial p-value equivalent to a \(2.8 \, \sigma\) excess, equivalent to \(1.6 \, \sigma\) post-trial. In addition, the results of a dedicated analysis for the blazar MG3 J225517+2409 are also reported: this source is found to be the most significant within the \textit{Fermi} 3LAC sample, with 5 ANTARES events located at less than one degree from the source. This blazar showed evidence of flaring activity in \textit{Fermi} data, in space-time coincidence with a high-energy track detected by IceCube. An \emph{a posteriori} significance of \(2.0\, \sigma\) for the combination of ANTARES and IceCube data is reported.