Search for correlations between the arrival directions of IceCube neutrino events and ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays detected by the Pierre Auger Observatory and the Telescope Array

Authors

M. G. Aartsen, The University of Adelaide
K. Abraham, Technical University of Munich
M. Ackermann, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY)
J. Adams, University of Canterbury
J. A. Aguilar, Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB)
M. Ahlers, University of Wisconsin-Madison
M. Ahrens, Stockholms universitet
D. Altmann, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
T. Anderson, Pennsylvania State University
I. Ansseau, Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB)
M. Archinger, Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz
C. Arguelles, University of Wisconsin-Madison
T. C. Arlen, Pennsylvania State University
J. Auffenberg, Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen
X. Bai, South Dakota School of Mines & Technology
S. W. Barwick, University of California, Irvine
V. Baum, Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz
R. Bay, University of California, Berkeley
J. J. Beatty, The Ohio State University
J. Becker Tjus, Ruhr-Universitat Bochum
K. H. Becker, Bergische Universitat Wuppertal
E. Beiser, University of Wisconsin-Madison
P. Berghaus, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY)
D. Berley, University of Maryland
E. Bernardini, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY)
A. Bernhard, Technical University of Munich
D. Z. Besson, University of Kansas, Lawrence
G. Binder, University of California, Berkeley
D. Bindig, Bergische Universitat Wuppertal
M. Bissok, Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen
E. Blaufuss, University of Maryland
J. Blumenthal, Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-20-2016

Abstract

© 2016 IOP Publishing Ltd and Sissa Medialab srl. This paper presents the results of different searches for correlations between very high-energy neutrino candidates detected by IceCube and the highest-energy cosmic rays measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory and the Telescope Array. We first consider samples of cascade neutrino events and of high-energy neutrino-induced muon tracks, which provided evidence for a neutrino flux of astrophysical origin, and study their cross-correlation with the ultrahigh-energy cosmic ray (UHECR) samples as a function of angular separation. We also study their possible directional correlations using a likelihood method stacking the neutrino arrival directions and adopting different assumptions on the size of the UHECR magnetic deflections. Finally, we perform another likelihood analysis stacking the UHECR directions and using a sample of through-going muon tracks optimized for neutrino point-source searches with sub-degree angular resolution. No indications of correlations at discovery level are obtained for any of the searches performed. The smallest of the p-values comes from the search for correlation between UHECRs with IceCube high-energy cascades, a result that should continue to be monitored.

Publication Title

Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics

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