The promise of deep-stacking for neutrino astronomy

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Kowalski, Marek, Ackermann, Markus, Bartos, Imre
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Kowalski, Marek
Ackermann, Markus
Bartos, Imre
author_facet Kowalski, Marek
Ackermann, Markus
Bartos, Imre
contents The detection of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos by IceCube has opened new windows for neutrino astronomy, but their sources remains largely unresolved. We study a methodology to address this - deep-stacking - that exploits correlations between observed neutrinos and comprehensive catalogs of potential source populations, including faint, high-redshift sources. By stacking signals from numerous weak sources and optimizing source weighting, significant gains in sensitivity can be achieved, particularly in the low-background regime where individual high-energy neutrinos dominate. We provide a semi-analytic framework to estimate sensitivity improvements for populations of sources under various background scenarios and redshift evolutions. Our analysis demonstrates that deep-stacking can increase detection sensitivity by a factor of 3 to 5, enabling detailed population studies. Furthermore, we discuss the potential to resolve the diffuse neutrino flux and investigate the redshift evolution of source populations. This approach offers a direct path toward identifying the primary sites of cosmic-ray acceleration and the mechanisms responsible for high-energy neutrino production.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2501_10213
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The promise of deep-stacking for neutrino astronomy
Kowalski, Marek
Ackermann, Markus
Bartos, Imre
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
The detection of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos by IceCube has opened new windows for neutrino astronomy, but their sources remains largely unresolved. We study a methodology to address this - deep-stacking - that exploits correlations between observed neutrinos and comprehensive catalogs of potential source populations, including faint, high-redshift sources. By stacking signals from numerous weak sources and optimizing source weighting, significant gains in sensitivity can be achieved, particularly in the low-background regime where individual high-energy neutrinos dominate. We provide a semi-analytic framework to estimate sensitivity improvements for populations of sources under various background scenarios and redshift evolutions. Our analysis demonstrates that deep-stacking can increase detection sensitivity by a factor of 3 to 5, enabling detailed population studies. Furthermore, we discuss the potential to resolve the diffuse neutrino flux and investigate the redshift evolution of source populations. This approach offers a direct path toward identifying the primary sites of cosmic-ray acceleration and the mechanisms responsible for high-energy neutrino production.
title The promise of deep-stacking for neutrino astronomy
topic High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.10213