A tidal disruption event coincident with a high-energy neutrino
Abstract
Cosmic neutrinos provide a unique window into the otherwise-hidden mechanism of particle acceleration in astrophysical objects. A flux of high-energy neutrinos was discovered in 2013, and the IceCube Collaboration recently reported the likely association of one high-energy neutrino with a flare from the relativistic jet of an active galaxy pointed towards the Earth. However a combined analysis of many similar active galaxies revealed no excess from the broader population, leaving the vast majority of the cosmic neutrino flux unexplained. Here we present the likely association of a radio-emitting tidal disruption event, AT2019dsg, with a second high-energy neutrino. AT2019dsg was identified as part of our systematic search for optical counterparts to high-energy neutrinos with the Zwicky Transient Facility. The probability of finding any coincident radio-emitting tidal disruption event by chance is 0.5%, while the probability of finding one as bright in bolometric energy flux as AT2019dsg is 0.2%. Our electromagnetic observations can be explained through a multi-zone model, with radio analysis revealing a central engine, embedded in a UV photosphere, that powers an extended synchrotron-emitting outflow. This provides an ideal site for PeV neutrino production. Assuming that the association is genuine, our observations suggest that tidal disruption events with mildly-relativistic outflows contribute to the cosmic neutrino flux.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2005.05340,
title = {A tidal disruption event coincident with a high-energy neutrino},
author = {Robert Stein and Sjoert van Velzen and Marek Kowalski and Anna Franckowiak and Suvi Gezari and James C. A. Miller-Jones and Sara Frederick and Itai Sfaradi and Michael F. Bietenholz and Assaf Horesh and Rob Fender and Simone Garrappa and Tomás Ahumada and Igor Andreoni and Justin Belicki and Eric C. Bellm and Markus Böttcher and Valery Brinnel and Rick Burruss and S. Bradley Cenko and Michael W. Coughlin and Virginia Cunningham and Andrew Drake and Glennys R. Farrar and Michael Feeney and Ryan J. Foley and Avishay Gal-Yam and V. Zach Golkhou and Ariel Goobar and Matthew J. Graham and Erica Hammerstein and George Helou and Tiara Hung and Mansi M. Kasliwal and Charles D. Kilpatrick and Albert K. H. Kong and Thomas Kupfer and Russ R. Laher and Ashish A. Mahabal and Frank J. Masci and Jannis Necker and Jakob Nordin and Daniel A. Perley and Mickael Rigault and Simeon Reusch and Hector Rodriguez and César Rojas-Bravo and Ben Rusholme and David L. Shupe and Leo P. Singer and Jesper Sollerman and Maayane T. Soumagnac and Daniel Stern and Kirsty Taggart and Jakob van Santen and Charlotte Ward and Patrick Woudt and Yuhan Yao},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2005.05340},
year = {2021}
}
Comments
Title and text modified during journal review. Version accepted for publication in Nature Astronomy