A Time-independent Search for Neutrinos from Galaxy Clusters with IceCube

Abstract

Clusters of galaxies -- with their turbulent magnetic fields and abundant matter content -- are a promising class of potential neutrino sources. Cosmic rays accelerated within the large-scale shocks,Active GalacticNuclei (AGN), or both can be confined in galaxy clusters over cosmological timescales and produce a steady flux of neutrinos in secondary interactions. The IceCube Neutrino Observatory has detected a diffuse flux of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos. After ten years of operations, however, the origin of this flux remains largely unconstrained. In this work, we perform a stacked search for neutrinos, using a population of over one thousand galaxy clusters detected by the Planck Satellite via the Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) effect up to a redshift $z=1$. We present the first results on the contribution of galaxy clusters to the diffuse neutrino flux and discuss the implications for various models of cosmic-ray acceleration in large-scale structures.

arXiv commentPresented at the 37th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC 2021). See arXiv:2107.06966 for all IceCube contributions