NGC 1068 constraints on neutrino-dark matter scattering

TL;DR

This paper uses observations of neutrinos from NGC 1068 to set new limits on how strongly neutrinos can interact with dark matter, constraining dark matter properties near galactic centers.

Contribution

It provides the first stringent upper limits on neutrino-dark matter scattering cross sections based on steady-state neutrino observations from an active galaxy.

Findings

Derived upper limits on neutrino-dark matter cross section

Constraints can surpass previous bounds from single neutrino events

Results depend on dark matter spike models

Abstract

The IceCube collaboration has observed the first steady-state point source of high-energy neutrinos, coming from the active galaxy NGC 1068. If neutrinos interacted strongly enough with dark matter, the emitted neutrinos would have been impeded by the dense spike of dark matter surrounding the supermassive black hole at the galactic center, which powers the emission. We derive a stringent upper limit on the scattering cross section between neutrinos and dark matter based on the observed events and theoretical models of the dark matter spike. The bound can be stronger than that obtained by the single IceCube neutrino event from the blazar TXS 0506+056 for some spike models.