Multimessenger observations of a flaring blazar coincident with high-energy neutrino IceCube-170922A
The IceCube Collaboration · IceCube, Fermi-LAT, MAGIC and partner observatories
Summary
Following the detection of a high-energy muon neutrino (IceCube-170922A) by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, follow-up observations across the electromagnetic spectrum identified a spatially coincident gamma-ray flare from the blazar TXS 0506+056. The joint detection provided the first compelling evidence associating a high-energy astrophysical neutrino with a specific source, identifying blazars as cosmic-ray accelerators. The work is a landmark in multimessenger astronomy.
Key findings
- A ~290 TeV muon neutrino, IceCube-170922A, arrived from a direction consistent with the flaring blazar TXS 0506+056.
- Fermi-LAT and MAGIC observed TXS 0506+056 in an enhanced gamma-ray flaring state coincident with the neutrino.
- The chance coincidence was disfavored at the ~3σ level, providing the first evidence for an extragalactic high-energy neutrino source.
Subjects & keywords
Cite this paper
The IceCube Collaboration [IceCube, Fermi-LAT, MAGIC and partner observatories] (2018). Multimessenger observations of a flaring blazar coincident with high-energy neutrino IceCube-170922A. Science. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aat1378
@article{collaboration2018multimessenger,
author = {The IceCube Collaboration and {IceCube, Fermi-LAT, MAGIC and partner observatories}},
title = {Multimessenger observations of a flaring blazar coincident with high-energy neutrino IceCube-170922A},
journal = {Science},
year = {2018},
doi = {10.1126/science.aat1378},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aat1378}
}