Search for Tens of MeV Neutrinos associated with Gamma-Ray Bursts in Super-Kamiokande

TL;DR

This study searched for neutrinos coinciding with gamma-ray bursts using Super-Kamiokande data from 2008 to 2017, finding no significant signals and setting upper limits on neutrino fluence in the 8-100 MeV range.

Contribution

First comprehensive search for MeV neutrinos associated with GRBs using Super-Kamiokande, establishing upper limits on neutrino fluence and constraining models.

Findings

No significant neutrino-GRB coincidence detected.

Set upper limits on neutrino fluence in the 8-100 MeV range.

Provided fluence bounds as a function of neutrino energy.

Abstract

A search for neutrinos produced in coincidence with Gamma-Ray Bursts(GRB) was conducted with the Super-Kamiokande (SK) detector. Between December 2008 and March 2017, the Gamma-ray Coordinates Network recorded 2208 GRBs that occurred during normal SK operation. Several time windows around each GRB were used to search for coincident neutrino events. No statistically significant signal in excess of the estimated backgrounds was detected. The $\bar\nu_e$ fluence in the range from 8 MeV to 100 MeV in positron total energy for $\bar\nu_e+p\rightarrow e^{+}+n$ was found to be less than $\rm 5.07\times10^5$ cm$^{-2}$ per GRB in 90\% C.L. Upper bounds on the fluence as a function of neutrino energy were also obtained.