Time-dependent search for neutrino emission from x-ray binaries with the ANTARES telescope

TL;DR

This paper reports a time-dependent search for high-energy neutrinos from 33 x-ray binaries during flaring and state transitions, using ANTARES data to constrain astrophysical models and reduce background noise.

Contribution

It introduces a novel time-dependent analysis method applied to x-ray binaries, improving neutrino detection sensitivity and constraining jet models.

Findings

Neutrino flux upper limits were established for the sources.

The results constrain certain astrophysical jet models.

Background noise was significantly reduced through temporal and directional coincidence.

Abstract

ANTARES is currently the largest neutrino telescope operating in the Northern Hemisphere, aiming at the detection of high-energy neutrinos from astrophysical sources. Neutrino telescopes constantly monitor at least one complete hemisphere of the sky, and are thus well-suited to detect neutrinos produced in transient astrophysical sources. A timedependent search has been applied to a list of 33 x-ray binaries undergoing high flaring activities in satellite data (RXTE/ASM, MAXI and Swift/BAT) and during hardness transition states in the 2008-2012 period. The background originating from interactions of charged cosmic rays in the Earth's atmosphere is drastically reduced by requiring a directional and temporal coincidence with astrophysical phenomena. The results of this search are presented together with comparisons between the neutrino flux upper limits and the neutrino flux predictions from astrophysical models. The neutrino flux upper limits resulting from this search limit the jet parameter predictions for some astrophysical models.