Evidence for Neutrino Emission from X-Ray-bright Active Galactic Nuclei with IceCube

IceCube Collaboration; R Abbasi; M Ackermann; J Adams; S K Agarwalla; J. A Aguilar; M Ahlers; J M Alameddine; S Ali; N. M Amin; M. Hostert

doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ae4aad

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Evidence for Neutrino Emission from X-Ray-bright Active Galactic Nuclei with IceCube

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Evidence for Neutrino Emission from X-Ray-bright Active Galactic Nuclei with IceCube

IceCube Collaboration, R Abbasi, M Ackermann, J Adams, S K Agarwalla, J. A Aguilar, M Ahlers, J M Alameddine, S Ali, N. M Amin, …

Astrophysical journal. Letters, Vol.1000(1), L26

03/20/2026

DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ae4aad

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Abstract

Recently, IceCube reported neutrino emission from the Seyfert galaxy NGC 1068. Using 13.1 yr of IceCube data, we present a follow-up search for neutrino sources in the northern sky. NGC 1068 remains the most significant neutrino source among 110 preselected gamma-ray emitters while also being spatially compatible with the most significant location in the northern sky. Its energy spectrum is characterized by an unbroken power-law with spectral index γ = 3.4 ± 0.2. Consistent with previous results, the observed neutrino flux exceeds its gamma-ray counterpart by at least 2 orders of magnitude. Motivated by this disparity and the high X-ray luminosity of the source, we selected 47 X-ray-bright Seyfert galaxies from the Swift/BAT spectroscopic survey that were not included in the list of gamma-ray emitters. When testing this collection for neutrino emission, we observe a 3.3 σ excess from an ensemble of 11 sources, with NGC 1068 excluded from the sample. Our results strengthen the evidence that X-ray-bright cores of active galactic nuclei are neutrino emitters.

High Energy Astrophysics

Neutrino astronomy

Seyfert galaxies

X-ray active galactic nuclei

Details

Title: Subtitle: Evidence for Neutrino Emission from X-Ray-bright Active Galactic Nuclei with IceCube
Creators: IceCube Collaboration
R Abbasi (Contributor)
M Ackermann (Contributor) - Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY
J Adams (Contributor) - University of Canterbury
S K Agarwalla (Contributor) - Institute of Physics, Bhubaneshwar
J. A Aguilar (Contributor) - Université Libre de Bruxelles
M Ahlers (Contributor) - University of Copenhagen
J M Alameddine (Contributor) - TU Dortmund University
S Ali (Contributor) - University of Kansas
N. M Amin (Contributor) - University of Delaware
M. Hostert (Contributor) - Harvard University
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Astrophysical journal. Letters, Vol.1000(1), L26
DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ae4aad
ISSN: 2041-8205
eISSN: 2041-8213
Publisher: IOP Publishing
Language: English
Date published: 03/20/2026
Academic Unit: Physics and Astronomy
Record Identifier: 9985147012602771

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