Search for Relativistic Magnetic Monopoles with Eight Years of IceCube Data

TL;DR

This paper reports the most stringent upper limit to date on the flux of relativistic magnetic monopoles using eight years of IceCube data, covering monopole speeds from 0.75c to 0.995c.

Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive all-sky search for relativistic magnetic monopoles with IceCube data, setting new upper limits without mass restrictions.

Findings

Established an upper flux limit below 2.0×10⁻¹⁹ cm⁻² s⁻¹ sr⁻¹ for monopoles with speeds 0.75c to 0.995c.

Most strict upper limit to date for relativistic magnetic monopoles above Cherenkov threshold.

Bridged the gap between non-relativistic and ultrarelativistic monopole flux limits.

Abstract

We present an all-sky 90\% confidence level upper limit on the cosmic flux of relativistic magnetic monopoles using 2886 days of IceCube data. The analysis was optimized for monopole speeds between 0.750$c$ and 0.995$c$, without any explicit restriction on the monopole mass. We constrain the flux of relativistic cosmic magnetic monopoles to a level below $2.0\times 10^{-19} {\textrm{cm}}^{-2} {\textrm{s}}^{-1} {\textrm{sr}}^{-1}$ over the majority of the targeted speed range. This result constitutes the most strict upper limit to date for magnetic monopoles above the Cherenkov threshold and up to $\beta \sim 0.995$ and fills the gap between existing limits on the cosmic flux of non-relativistic and ultrarelativistic magnetic monopoles