Journal article
Search for Extremely-High-Energy Neutrinos and First Constraints on the Ultrahigh-Energy Cosmic-Ray Proton Fraction with IceCube
Physical review letters, Vol.135(3), 031001
07/18/2025
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.135.031001
PMID: 40758031
Abstract
We present a search for the diffuse extremely-high-energy neutrino flux using 12.6 years of IceCube data. The nonobservation of neutrinos with energies well above 10 PeV constrains the all-flavor neutrino flux at 10^{18} eV to a level of E^{2}Φ_{ν_{e}+ν_{μ}+ν_{τ}}≃10^{-8} GeV cm^{-2} s^{-1} sr^{-1}, the most stringent limit to date. Using these data, we constrain the proton fraction of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) above ≃30 EeV to be ≲70% (at 90% CL) if the cosmological evolution of the sources is comparable to or stronger than the star formation rate. This is the first result to disfavor the "proton-only" hypothesis for UHECR in this evolution regime using neutrino data. This result complements direct air-shower measurements by being insensitive to uncertainties associated with hadronic interaction models. We also evaluate the tension between IceCube's nonobservation and the ∼200 PeV KM3NeT neutrino candidate (KM3-230213A), finding it to be ∼2.9σ based on a joint-livetime fit between neutrino datasets.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Search for Extremely-High-Energy Neutrinos and First Constraints on the Ultrahigh-Energy Cosmic-Ray Proton Fraction with IceCube
- Creators
- R Abbasi - Loyola University ChicagoM Ackermann - Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESYJ Adams - University of CanterburyS K Agarwalla - University of Wisconsin–MadisonJ A Aguilar - Université Libre de BruxellesM Ahlers - University of CopenhagenJ M Alameddine - TU Dortmund UniversityN M Amin - University of DelawareK Andeen - Marquette UniversityC Argüelles - Harvard University PressY Ashida - University of UtahS Athanasiadou - Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESYS N Axani - University of DelawareR Babu - Michigan State UniversityX Bai - South Dakota School of Mines and TechnologyA Balagopal V - University of Wisconsin–MadisonM Baricevic - University of Wisconsin–MadisonS W Barwick - University of California SystemS Bash - Technical University of MunichV Basu - University of Wisconsin–MadisonR Bay - University of California SystemJ J Beatty - The Ohio State UniversityJ. Becker Tjus - Fakultät für Physik und Astronomie, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, D-44780 Bochum, GermanyJ Beise - Uppsala UniversityC Bellenghi - Technical University of MunichS BenZvi - University of RochesterD Berley - University of Maryland, College ParkE Bernardini - University of PaduaD Z Besson - University of KansasE Blaufuss - University of Maryland, College ParkL Bloom - University of AlabamaS Blot - Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESYF Bontempo - Karlsruhe Institute of TechnologyJ. Y. Book Motzkin - Harvard UniversityC. Boscolo Meneguolo - Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia Galileo Galilei, Università Degli Studi di Padova, I-35122 Padova PD, ItalyS Böser - Johannes Gutenberg University MainzO Botner - Uppsala UniversityJ Böttcher - RWTH Aachen UniversityJ Braun - University of Wisconsin–MadisonB Brinson - Georgia Institute of TechnologyZ Brisson-Tsavoussis - Queen's UniversityJ Brostean-Kaiser - Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESYL Brusa - RWTH Aachen UniversityR T Burley - The University of AdelaideD Butterfield - University of Wisconsin–MadisonM A Campana - Drexel UniversityI Caracas - Johannes Gutenberg University MainzK Carloni - Harvard University PressJ Carpio - University of Nevada, RenoS Chattopadhyay - University of Wisconsin–MadisonN Chau - Université Libre de BruxellesZ Chen - Stony Brook UniversityD Chirkin - University of Wisconsin–MadisonS Choi - Sungkyunkwan UniversityB A Clark - University of Maryland, College ParkA Coleman - Uppsala UniversityP Coleman - RWTH Aachen UniversityG H Collin - Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyA Connolly - The Ohio State UniversityJ M Conrad - Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyR Corley - University of UtahD F Cowen - Pennsylvania State UniversityC De Clercq - Vrije Universiteit BrusselJ J DeLaunay - University of AlabamaD Delgado - Harvard UniversityS Deng - RWTH Aachen UniversityA Desai - University of Wisconsin–MadisonP Desiati - University of Wisconsin–MadisonK D de Vries - Vrije Universiteit BrusselG de Wasseige - UCLouvainT DeYoung - Michigan State UniversityA Diaz - Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyJ C Díaz-Vélez - University of Wisconsin–MadisonP Dierichs - RWTH Aachen UniversityM Dittmer - University of MünsterA Domi - Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-NürnbergL Draper - University of UtahH Dujmovic - University of Wisconsin–MadisonD Durnford - University of AlbertaK Dutta - Johannes Gutenberg University MainzM A DuVernois - University of Wisconsin–MadisonT Ehrhardt - Johannes Gutenberg University MainzL Eidenschink - Technical University of MunichA Eimer - Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-NürnbergP Eller - Technical University of MunichE Ellinger - University of WuppertalS El Mentawi - RWTH Aachen UniversityD Elsässer - TU Dortmund UniversityR Engel - Karlsruhe Institute of TechnologyH Erpenbeck - University of Wisconsin–MadisonW Esmail - University of MünsterJ Evans - University of Maryland, College ParkP A Evenson - University of DelawareK L Fan - University of Maryland, College ParkK Fang - University of Wisconsin–MadisonK Farrag - Chiba UniversityA R Fazely - Southern UniversityA Fedynitch - Institute of Physics, Academia SinicaN Feigl - Humboldt-Universität zu BerlinS Fiedlschuster - Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-NürnbergIceCube CollaborationMatheus Hostert (Contributor) - Physics and Astronomy
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Physical review letters, Vol.135(3), 031001
- DOI
- 10.1103/PhysRevLett.135.031001
- PMID
- 40758031
- NLM abbreviation
- Phys Rev Lett
- ISSN
- 0031-9007
- eISSN
- 1079-7114
- Publisher
- AMER PHYSICAL SOC
- Grant note
- USA-U.S. National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs, U.S. National Science Foundation Physics Division, U.S. National Science Foundation EPSCoR, U.S. National Science Foundation Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure, Wisconsin Alumni Research FoAdvanced Cyberinfrastructure Coordination Ecosystem: Services & Support (ACCESS)NVIDIA CorporationGoogle Cloud PlatformFWO Odysseus and Big Science programmesBelgian Federal Science Policy Office (Belspo)Germany-Bundesministerium fur Bildung und Forschung (BMBF)Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)Helmholtz Alliance for Astroparticle Physics (HAP), Initiative and Networking Fund of the Helmholtz AssociationSweden-Swedish Research CouncilSwedish Polar Research SecretariatKnut and Alice Wallenberg FoundationEuropean Union-EGI Advanced Computing for researchAustralia-Australian Research CouncilWestGridDigital Research Alliance of CanadaDenmark-Villum FondenCarlsberg FoundationEuropean CommissionNew Zealand-Marsden FundSwitzerland-Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)
The IceCube Collaboration acknowledges the significant contributions to this manuscript by Brian A. Clark and Maximilian Meier. The authors gratefully acknowledge the support from the following agencies and institutions: USA-U.S. National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs, U.S. National Science Foundation Physics Division, U.S. National Science Foundation EPSCoR, U.S. National Science Foundation Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure, Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, Center for High Throughput Computing (CHTC) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Open Science Grid (OSG), Partnership to Advance Throughput Computing (PATh), Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Coordination Ecosystem: Services & Support (ACCESS), Frontera and Ranch computing project at the Texas Advanced Computing Center, U.S. Department of Energy National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, Particle astrophysics research computing center at the University of Maryland, Institute for Cyber-Enabled Research at Michigan State University, Astroparticle physics computational facility at Marquette University, NVIDIA Corporation, and Google Cloud Platform; Belgium-Funds for Scientific Research (FRS-FNRS and FWO), FWO Odysseus and Big Science programmes, and Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (Belspo); Germany-Bundesministerium fur Bildung und Forschung (BMBF), Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), Helmholtz Alliance for Astroparticle Physics (HAP), Initiative and Networking Fund of the Helmholtz Association, Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron (DESY), and High Performance Computing cluster of the RWTH Aachen; Sweden-Swedish Research Council, Swedish Polar Research Secretariat, Swedish National Infrastructure for Computing (SNIC), and Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation; European Union-EGI Advanced Computing for research; Australia-Australian Research Council; Canada-Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Calcul Quebec, Compute Ontario, Canada Foundation for Innovation, WestGrid, and Digital Research Alliance of Canada; Denmark-Villum Fonden, Carlsberg Foundation, and European Commission; New Zealand-Marsden Fund; Japan-Japan Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS) and Institute for Global Prominent Research (IGPR) of Chiba University; Korea-National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF); Switzerland-Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 07/18/2025
- Academic Unit
- Physics and Astronomy
- Record Identifier
- 9984945918402771
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