Time-Integrated Neutrino Source Searches with 10 Years of IceCube Data

Area of Science:

• Astrophysical neutrinos
• Particle astrophysics
• High-energy astrophysics

Background:

• Neutrinos are fundamental particles that travel vast distances, carrying information about their cosmic sources.
• Identifying point-like neutrino sources is crucial for understanding high-energy astrophysical processes.
• Distinguishing astrophysical neutrino signals from atmospheric backgrounds is a significant challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To search for point-like astrophysical neutrino sources using a decade of IceCube data.
• To evaluate the statistical significance of potential neutrino excesses from known and unknown cosmic sources.
• To investigate correlations between neutrino events and cataloged celestial objects.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of ten years of IceCube neutrino data (2008-2018).
• Searches for clustered neutrino events with energies above 1 TeV.
• Performing full-sky scans, catalog searches, and stacked Galactic catalog searches.
• Evaluating significance against atmospheric muon and neutrino backgrounds.

Main Results:

• The most significant excess of neutrinos was detected at the location of the Seyfert II galaxy NGC 1068 (2.9σ significance).
• Combined analysis of northern catalog sources, including NGC 1068 and TXS 0506+056, showed a 3.3σ significance against background.
• Searches in the southern hemisphere were consistent with background expectations.

Conclusions:

• The results provide evidence for neutrino emission from NGC 1068 and suggest collective emission from northern catalog sources.
• These findings motivate further investigation of NGC 1068 and similar objects using time-dependent and multimessenger analyses.
• Future IceCube detector upgrades may yield stronger evidence for point-like neutrino sources.