Hidden Cosmic-Ray Accelerators as an Origin of TeV-PeV Cosmic Neutrinos

Sep 2, 2015
6 pages
Published in:
  • Phys.Rev.Lett. 116 (2016) 7, 071101
  • Published: Feb 18, 2016
e-Print:

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Abstract: (APS)
The latest IceCube data suggest that the all-flavor cosmic neutrino flux may be as large as 10-7  GeV cm-2 s-1 sr-1 around 30 TeV. We show that, if sources of the TeV-PeV neutrinos are transparent to γ rays with respect to two-photon annihilation, strong tensions with the isotropic diffuse γ-ray background measured by Fermi are unavoidable, independently of the production mechanism. We further show that, if the IceCube neutrinos have a photohadronic (pγ) origin, the sources are expected to be opaque to 1–100 GeV γ rays. With these general multimessenger arguments, we find that the latest data suggest a population of cosmic-ray accelerators hidden in GeV-TeV γ rays as a neutrino origin. Searches for x-ray and MeV γ-ray counterparts are encouraged, and TeV-PeV neutrinos themselves will serve as special probes of dense source environments.
Note:
  • 6+3 pages, 2+1 figures, version to appear in PRL, with expanded Supplementary Material
  • gamma ray: background
  • neutrino: flux
  • accelerator
  • IceCube
  • cosmic radiation
  • annihilation
  • two-photon
  • tension