Journal article
A tidal disruption event coincident with a high-energy neutrino
Nature astronomy
11/May/2020
Abstract
Cosmic neutrinos provide a unique window into the otherwise-hidden mechanism of particle acceleration in astrophysical objects. A flux of high-energy neutrinos was discovered in 2013, and the IceCube Collaboration recently associated one high-energy neutrino with a flare from the relativistic jet of an active galaxy pointed towards the Earth. However a combined analysis of many similar active galaxies revealed no excess from the broader population, leaving the vast majority of the cosmic neutrino flux unexplained. Here we present the association of a radio-emitting tidal disruption event (AT2019dsg) with another high-energy neutrino, identified as part of our systematic search for optical counterparts to high-energy neutrinos with the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF). The probability of finding any radio-emitting tidal disruption event by chance is 0.5%, while the probability of finding one as bright in bolometric energy flux as AT2019dsg is 0.2%. Our electromagnetic observations can be explained through a multi-zone model, with radio analysis revealing a central engine, embedded in a UV photosphere, that powers an extended synchrotron-emitting outflow. This provides an ideal site for PeV neutrino production. The association suggests that tidal disruption events contribute to the cosmic neutrino flux. Unlike previous work which considered the rare subset of tidal disruption events with relativistic jets, our observations of AT2019dsg suggest an empirical model with a mildly-relativistic outflow.
Details
- Title
- A tidal disruption event coincident with a high-energy neutrino
- Creators
- Robert Stein (Corresponding Author) - Deutsche Elektronen-Synchrotron DESYSjoert van Velzen (Corresponding Author) - New York UniversityMarek Kowalski (Corresponding Author)Anna Franckowiak - Deutsche Elektronen-Synchrotron DESYSuvi Gezari - University of Maryland, College ParkJames C. A Miller-Jones - International Centre for Radio Astronomy ResearchSara Frederick - University of Maryland, College ParkItai Sfaradi - Hebrew University of JerusalemMichael F Bietenholz - Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy ObservatoryAssaf Horesh - Hebrew University of JerusalemRob Fender - University of OxfordSimone Garrappa - Deutsche Elektronen-Synchrotron DESYTomás Ahumada - University of Maryland, College ParkIgor Andreoni - California Institute of TechnologyJustin Belicki - California Institute of TechnologyEric C Bellm - University of WashingtonMarkus Böttcher - North-West UniversityValery Brinnel - University of OxfordRick Burruss - California Institute of TechnologyS. Bradley Cenko - Joint Space Science InstituteMichael W Coughlin - University of MinnesotaVirginia Cunningham - University of Maryland, College ParkAndrew Drake - California Institute of TechnologyGlennys R Farrar - New York UniversityMichael Feeney - California Institute of TechnologyRyan J Foley - University of California, Santa CruzAvishay Gal-YamV. Zach Golkhou - University of WashingtonAriel Goobar - AlbaNovaMatthew J Graham - California Institute of TechnologyErica Hammerstein - University of Maryland, College ParkGeorge Helou - Infrared Processing and Analysis CenterTiara Hung - University of California, Santa CruzMansi M Kasliwal - University of Maryland, College ParkCharles D Kilpatrick - University of California, Santa CruzAlbert K. H Kong - National Tsing Hua UniversityThomas Kupfer - University of California, Santa BarbaraRuss R Laher - Infrared Processing and Analysis CenterAshish A Mahabal - California Institute of TechnologyFrank J Masci - Infrared Processing and Analysis CenterJannis Necker - Deutsche Elektronen-Synchrotron DESYJakob Nordin - Humboldt-Universität zu BerlinDaniel A PerleyMickael Rigault - Claude Bernard University Lyon 1Simeon Reusch - Deutsche Elektronen-Synchrotron DESYHector Rodriguez - California Institute of TechnologyCésar Rojas-Bravo - University of California, Santa CruzBen Rusholme - Infrared Processing and Analysis CenterDavid L Shupe - Infrared Processing and Analysis CenterLeo P Singer - Goddard Space Flight CenterJesper Sollerman - AlbaNovaMaayane T Soumagnac - 972WIS_INST___88Daniel Stern - Jet Propulsion LaboratoryKirsty Taggart - Liverpool John Moores UniversityJakob van SantenCharlotte Ward - University of Maryland, College ParkPatrick Woudt - University of Cape TownYuhan Yao - California Institute of Technology
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Nature astronomy; 11/May/2020
- Language
- English
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-020-01295-8
- Grant note
- We thank C. Lunardini, A. MacFadyen, B. Metzger, A. Mummery, A. Pizzuto, N. Stone, A. Taylor and W. Winter for discussions. We also thank the IceCube Collaboration for publishing high-energy neutrino alerts. We thank S. Digel, K. Fang, D. Horan, M. Kerr, V. Paliya and J. Racusin for feedback provided during a Fermi collaboration review. R.S. is grateful to NYU for facilitating a visit to develop this work. M.K. is grateful for the hospitality received from Columbia University and NYU during a sabbatical visit. This work was supported by the Initiative and Networking Fund of the Helmholtz Association through the Young Investigator Group programme (A.F.). S.v.V. is supported by the James Arthur Postdoctoral Fellowship. This research was partially supported by the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council’s Discovery Projects funding scheme (project DP200102471). The work of M.B. is supported through the South African Research Chair Initiative of the National Research Foundation and the Department of Science and Innovation of South Africa, under SARChI Chair grant no. 64789. Any opinion, finding and conclusion or recommendation expressed in this material is that of the authors and the NRF does not accept any liability in this regard. A.H. acknowledges support by the I-Core Program of the Planning and Budgeting Committee and the Israel Science Foundation. The UCSC transient team is supported in part by NSF grant AST-1518052, NASA/Swift grant 80NSSC19K1386, the Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation, the Heising-Simons Foundation and a fellowship from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation to R.J.F. V.Z.G. is a Moore–Sloan, WRF Innovation in Data Science and DIRAC Fellow. A.G.-Y.’s research is supported by the EU via ERC grant no. 725161, the ISF GW Excellence Center, an IMOS space infrastructure grant and BSF/Transformative and GIF grants, as well as the Benoziyo Endowment Fund for the Advancement of Science, the André Deloro Institute for Advanced Research in Space and Optics, the Veronika A. Rabl Physics Discretionary Fund, Paul and Tina Gardner, Yeda-Sela and the WIS-CIT joint research grant; A.G.-Y. is the recipient of the Helen and Martin Kimmel Award for Innovative Investigation. M.R. has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 759194-USNAC). The work of D.S. was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with NASA. The work of S.R. was supported by the Helmholtz Weizmann Research School on Multimessenger Astronomy, funded through the Initiative and Networking Fund of the Helmholtz Association, DESY, the Weizmann Institute, the Humboldt University of Berlin and the University of Potsdam. This work is based on observations obtained with the Samuel Oschin telescope 48-inch and the 60-inch telescope at the Palomar Observatory as part of the ZTF project. ZTF is supported by the National Science Foundation under grant no. AST-1440341 and a collaboration including Caltech, IPAC, the Weizmann Institute for Science, the Oskar Klein Center at Stockholm University, the University of Maryland, the University of Washington, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron and Humboldt University, Los Alamos National Laboratories, the TANGO Consortium of Taiwan, the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories. Operations are conducted by COO, IPAC and UW. SED Machine is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grant no. 1106171. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc. The MeerKAT telescope is operated by the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory, which is a facility of the National Research Foundation, an agency of the Department of Science and Innovation. The work was supported by the GROWTH project funded by the National Science Foundation Partnership in International Research and Education program under grant no. 1545949. GROWTH is a collaborative project between the California Institute of Technology (United States), Pomona College (United States), San Diego State University (United States), Los Alamos National Laboratory (United States), University of Maryland College Park (United States), University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee (United States), Tokyo Institute of Technology (Japan), National Central University (Taiwan), Indian Institute of Astrophysics (India), Inter-University Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics (India), Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel), The Oskar Klein Centre at Stockholm University (Sweden) and Humboldt University (Germany). The Liverpool Telescope is operated on the island of La Palma by Liverpool John Moores University in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias with financial support from the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council. Research at Lick Observatory is partially supported by a gift from Google. The Fermi-LAT Collaboration acknowledges support for LAT development, operation and data analysis from NASA and DOE (United States), CEA/Irfu and IN2P3/CNRS (France), ASI and INFN (Italy), MEXT, KEK and JAXA (Japan) and the K.A. Wallenberg Foundation, the Swedish Research Council and the National Space Board (Sweden). Science analysis support in the operations phase from INAF (Italy) and CNES (France) is also acknowledged. This work was performed in part under DOE contract DE-AC02-76SF00515. IceCube Neutrino Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated at the US Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station under the US Antarctic Program. Author contributions : R.S. first identified AT2019dsg as a candidate neutrino source, performed the neutrino analysis and was the primary author of the manuscript. M.K., R.S. and S.v.V. developed the multizone model. G.R.F., M.K. and R.S. performed the neutrino modelling. A.F., J. Necker, R.S. and S.R. scheduled and analysed ZTF ToO observations. J.C.A.M.-J. and S.v.V. contributed the VLA observations. A.H., R.J.F. and I.S. contributed the AMI-LA observations. M.F.B., M.B., R.J.F., J.C.A.M.-J. and P.W. contributed the MeerKAT observations. S. Gezari and S.v.V. requested and reduced the Swift-UVOT data. D.A.P. and K.T. contributed the Liverpool Telescope observations. S.B.C., S.F. and S. Gezari performed X-ray observations and data analysis. S. Garrappa analysed Fermi gamma-ray data. S.R. and S.v.V. analysed the ZTF data. J.B., E.C.B., R.B., S.B.C., V.C., M.F., V.Z.G., A.G., M.J.G, G.H., M.M.K., T.K., R.R.L., A.A.M, F.J.M., H.R., B.R., D.L.S. and M.T.S contributed to the implementation of ZTF. T.A., I.A., M.W.C., M.M.K. and L.P.S. enabled ZTF ToO observations. A.D., R.J.F., M.J.G., S. Gezari, E.H., T.H., M.M.K., C.D.K., M.R., .R.-B., D.S, C.W. and Y.Y. contributed to spectroscopic observations and data reduction. R.S. developed the ToO analysis pipeline. V.B., J. Nordin and J.v.S. developed AMPEL, and contributed to the ToO analysis infrastructure. A.G.-Y., A.K.H.K. and J.S. contributed to the manuscript and discussions. All authors reviewed the contents of the manuscript.
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- 993260819203596
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