Ingrid Fadelli is a writer for the website Phys.org.
When fast charged particles collide with one another, they produce high-energy neutrinos. IceCube has been detecting extragalactic high-energy neutrinos for over a decade.
The origin of most of the high-energy particles detected by the IceCube detector has not been determined. The neutrinos were found beyond our galaxy.
A group of researchers in Europe and the U.S. have recently done a study on a violent event in the universe. The event could be the origin of a high-energy neutrino.
One of the researchers who carried out the study said, "Our team has been conducting a systematic study for 3 years, where we used the optical survey telescope of the ZTP to scans the sky region of each new high-energy neutrino that we can observe." A recent paper looked at a possible source for one of these neutrinos, a huge optical eruption in a very distant galaxy.
The optical outburst examined by Reusch and his colleagues is a Transient event which means that it will change over time. The event was studied in great detail by the researchers.
They concluded that it was a tidal disruption event. TDEs occur when a star is close enough to be affected by a black hole.
The star is torn apart by the black hole's pull on the star. The debris from around the black hole can be seen for months.
Reusch and his colleagues tried to find out if the high-energy neutrino could be the origin of it. They collaborated with theoretical physicists who were able to model the source and make predictions.
Reusch said that they tried to gather as much data as they could. We observed the location and gathered data from a variety of sources.
The researchers looked at all of the possible sources for the high-energy neutrino they observed, all of which were within a reasonable distance. All sources were ruled out due to their light curves or the optical spectrum they took.
There is a subclass of dust echo sources in the center of the universe. The actual 'echo' is produced when the intense radiation from the TDE heats the surrounding dust. The peak of the dust echo is delayed due to light travel times because of the huge size of the system.
A late-time X-ray signal was observed by Reusch and his colleagues. The source of the high-energy neutrino they observed is believed to be AT2019fDR. According to the findings of the team, AT2019fdr is not a superluminous supernova, a "regular" flare from the center of the galaxy, or another type of event.
A previous paper by our group had already identified a T DE as the likely source of another high-energy neutrino. The TDEs must be efficient in producing high-energy neutrinos. Multi-messenger studies like the one presented in our paper provide insights into the physics of particle physics.
More analyses will be conducted in the next studies. They intend to look for other TDEs in the large cosmological event dataset.
More information: Simeon Reusch et al, Candidate Tidal Disruption Event AT2019fdr Coincident with a High-Energy Neutrino, Physical Review Letters (2022). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.128.221101A tidal disruption event is associated with a high-energy neutrino.
Journal information: Physical Review Letters , Nature AstronomyThere is a science network.
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