A Search for Neutrino Emission from Fast Radio Bursts with Six Years of IceCube Data

TL;DR

This study searched for neutrino emissions coinciding with fast radio bursts using six years of IceCube data but found no significant correlation, setting upper limits on neutrino fluence from FRBs.

Contribution

First comprehensive search for neutrino-FRB coincidence over six years, establishing the most stringent fluence limits to date.

Findings

No significant neutrino-FRB correlation detected.

Set upper limits on neutrino fluence from FRBs.

Most stringent fluence limits for up to 100 seconds emission times.

Abstract

We present a search for coincidence between IceCube TeV neutrinos and fast radio bursts (FRBs). During the search period from 2010 May 31 to 2016 May 12, a total of 29 FRBs with 13 unique locations have been detected in the whole sky. An unbinned maximum likelihood method was used to search for spatial and temporal coincidence between neutrinos and FRBs in expanding time windows, in both the northern and southern hemispheres. No significant correlation was found in six years of IceCube data. Therefore, we set upper limits on neutrino fluence emitted by FRBs as a function of time window duration. We set the most stringent limit obtained to date on neutrino fluence from FRBs with an $E^{-2}$ energy spectrum assumed, which is 0.0021 GeV cm$^{-2}$ per burst for emission timescales up to \textasciitilde10$^2$ seconds from the northern hemisphere stacking search.