Search for Blazar Flux-Correlated TeV Neutrinos in IceCube 40-String Data
C. F. Turley, D. B. Fox, K. Murase, A. Falcone, M. Barnaba, S. Coutu,, D. F. Cowen, P. Meszaros, M. Mostafa, G. Filippatos, C. Hanna, A. Keivani, C., Messick, F. Oikonomou, I. Shoemaker, M. Toomey, G. Tesic

TL;DR
This study conducted a targeted search for high-energy neutrinos correlated with blazar activity using IceCube data, but found no significant signals, setting upper limits that inform future searches and models.
Contribution
First to perform a time-dependent neutrino search correlated with blazar flares using IceCube 40-string data and VERITAS lightcurves, establishing a methodology for future analyses.
Findings
No significant neutrino excess detected during flares.
Set 90% confidence upper limits on neutrino flux.
Results are consistent with previous searches and models.
Abstract
We present a targeted search for blazar flux-correlated high-energy ( TeV) neutrinos from six bright northern blazars, using the public database of northern-hemisphere neutrinos detected during "IC40" 40-string operations of the IceCube neutrino observatory (April 2008 to May 2009). Our six targeted blazars are subjects of long-term monitoring campaigns by the VERITAS TeV gamma-ray observatory. We use the publicly-available VERITAS lightcurves to identify periods of excess and flaring emission. These predefined intervals serve as our "active temporal windows" in a search for an excess of neutrinos, relative to Poisson fluctuations of the near-isotropic atmospheric neutrino background which dominates at these energies. After defining the parameters of an optimized search, we confirm the expected Poisson behavior with Monte Carlo simulations prior to testing for…
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Taxonomy
TopicsAstrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena · Neutrino Physics Research · Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena
