# Are starburst galaxies a common source of high energy neutrinos and cosmic rays?

## TL;DR

This study investigates whether nearby starburst galaxies are significant sources of high-energy neutrinos and cosmic rays, finding no strong correlation but allowing for a modest contribution from SBGs to observed neutrino events.

## Contribution

The paper performs a statistical correlation analysis between starburst galaxies and high-energy neutrinos, exploring their potential as sources of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays and neutrinos.

## Key findings

- No significant positional correlation found.
- A scenario where ~10% of neutrino events originate from SBGs is not excluded.
- Results are consistent across different data subsets.

## Abstract

A recent analysis of cosmic ray air showers observed at the Pierre Auger Observatory indicates that nearby starburst galaxies (SBGs) might be the cause of ~10% of the Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Ray flux at energies E > 39 EeV. Since high energy neutrinos are a direct product of cosmic ray interactions, we investigate SBGs as a possible source of some of the ~ 10^-2 - 1 PeV neutrinos observed at IceCube. A statistical analysis is performed to establish the degree of positional correlation between the observed neutrinos and a set of 45 nearby radio- and infrared-bright SBGs. Our results are consistent with no causal correlation. However, a scenario where ~10% of the High Energy Starting Events (HESE) in the detector are coming from the candidate SBGs is not excluded. The same conclusion is reached for different data subsets, as well as two different subsets of SBGs motivated by the Pierre Auger Observatory analysis.