Ultra-high energy Neutrinos from Centaurus A and the Auger hot spot

Abstract

The Pierre Auger collaboration has reported a correlation between Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECR) and nearby Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) within 75 Mpc. Two of these events fall within 3 degrees from Centaurus A, the nearest AGN, clearly suggesting that this object is a strong UHECR emitter. Here we pursue this hypothesis and forecast the expected rate of ultra-high energy neutrinos in detectors like IceCube. In our baseline model we find a rate of 0.4--0.6 yr^-1 events above a threshold of 100 TeV, the uncertainty of which is mainly related to the poor knowledge of the physical parameters of the source and on the details of the model. This situation will improve with detailed high energy gamma ray measurements of Cen A by the upcoming GLAST satellite. This would make Cen A the first example where the potential of high energy multi-messenger astronomy is finally realized.

5 pages, 2 figures, 1 table; enlarged discussion; matches published version

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Cited by in corpus (21)

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• Search for Point-Like Sources of Ultra-High Energy Neutrinos at the Pierre Auger Observatory and Improved Limit on the Diffuse Flux of Tau Neutrinos
• High energy radiation from Centaurus A
• Characterization of the Astrophysical Diffuse Neutrino Flux using Starting Track Events in IceCube
• Neutrinos from active black holes, sources of ultra high energy cosmic rays
• Modeling the Spectral Energy Distribution of the radio galaxy IC310
• Gamma-ray fluxes from the core emission of Centaurus A: A puzzle solved
• Neutrino, $\gamma$-ray and cosmic ray fluxes from the core of the closest radio galaxies
• A global autocorrelation study after the first Auger data: impact on the number density of UHECR sources
• A limit on the ultra-high-energy neutrino flux from lunar observations with the Parkes radio telescope
• Ultrahigh-energy neutrinos as a probe of espresso-shear acceleration in jets of Centaurus A
• IceCube expectations for two high-energy neutrino production models at active galactic nuclei
• Status of neutrino astronomy
• Interpreting correlated observations of cosmic rays and gamma-rays from Centaurus A with a proton blazar inspired model
• Probing UHECR production in Centaurus A using secondary neutrinos and gamma-rays
• Observational strategies for ultrahigh-energy neutrinos: the importance of deep sensitivity for detection and astronomy
• Implications of cosmic ray results for UHE neutrinos
• Closing in on the sources of Galactic and extragalactic cosmic rays
• Recent advances on multimessenger astrophysics: Centaurus A, GW 170817, and KM3-230213A