3HSP J095507.9+355101 is an extreme blazar that has been possibly associated with a high-energy neutrino (IceCube-200107A) detected 1 day before the blazar was found to undergo a hard X-ray flare. We ...perform a comprehensive study of the predicted multimessenger emission from 3HSP J095507.9+355101 during its recent X-ray flare, but also in the long term. We focus on one-zone leptohadronic models, but we also explore alternative scenarios: (i) a blazar-core model, which considers neutrino production in the inner jet, close to the supermassive black hole; (ii) a hidden external-photon model, which considers neutrino production in the jet through interactions with photons from a weak broad line region; (iii) a proton-synchrotron model, where high-energy protons in the jet produce γ-rays via synchrotron; and (iv) an intergalactic cascade scenario, where neutrinos are produced in the intergalactic medium by interactions of a high-energy cosmic-ray beam escaping the jet. The Poisson probability to detect a single muon neutrino in 10 years from 3HSP J095507.9+355101 with the real-time IceCube alert analysis is ∼1% (3%) for the most optimistic one-zone leptohadronic model (the multi-zone blazar-core model). Meanwhile, detection of a single neutrino during the 44-day-long high X-ray flux-state period following the neutrino detection is 0.06%, according to our most optimistic leptohadronic model. The most promising scenarios for neutrino production also predict strong intrasource γ-ray attenuation above ∼100 GeV. If the association is real, then IceCube-Gen2 and other future detectors should be able to provide additional evidence for neutrino production in 3HSP J095507.9+355101 and other extreme blazars.
We review and discuss recent results on the search for correlations between astrophysical neutrinos and γ-ray-detected sources, with many extragalactic studies reporting potential associations with ...different types of blazars. We investigate possible dependencies on blazar sub-classes by using the largest catalogues and all the multi-frequency data available. Through the study of similarities and differences in these sources we conclude that blazars come in two distinct flavours: LBLs and IHBLs (low-energy-peaked and intermediate-high-energy-peaked objects). These are distinguished by widely different properties such as the overall spectral energy distribution shape, jet speed, cosmological evolution, broad-band spectral variability, and optical polarisation properties. Although blazars of all types have been proposed as neutrino sources, evidence is accumulating in favour of IHBLs being the counterparts of astrophysical neutrinos. If this is indeed the case, we argue that the peculiar observational properties of IHBLs may be indirectly related to proton acceleration to very high energies.
Abstract
We investigate the possibility that blazars in the Roma-BZCAT Multifrequency Catalogue of Blazars (5BZCAT) are sources of the high-energy astrophysical neutrinos detected by the IceCube ...Neutrino Observatory, as recently suggested by Buson et al. Although we can reproduce their ∼4.5
σ
result, which applies to 7 yr of neutrino data in the southern sky, we find no significant correlation with 5BZCAT sources when extending the search to the northern sky, where IceCube is most sensitive to astrophysical signals. To further test this scenario, we use a larger sample consisting of 10 yr of neutrino data recently released by the IceCube Collaboration, this time finding no significant correlation in neither the southern nor the northern sky. These results suggest that the strong correlation reported by Buson et al. using 5BZCAT could be due to a statistical fluctuation and possibly the spatial and flux nonuniformities in the blazar sample. We perform some additional correlation tests using the more uniform, flux-limited, and blazar-dominated Radio Fundamental Catalogue and find a ∼3.2
σ
equivalent
p
-value when correlating it with the 7 yr southern neutrino sky. However, this correlation disappears completely when extending the analysis to the northern sky and when analyzing 10 yr of all-sky neutrino data. Our findings support a scenario where the contribution of the whole blazar class to the IceCube signal is relevant but not dominant, in agreement with most previous studies.
We report the discovery of 9088 new spectroscopically confirmed white dwarfs and subdwarfs in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 10. We obtain T sub(eff), log g and mass for hydrogen ...atmosphere white dwarf stars (DAs) and helium atmosphere white dwarf stars (DBs), and estimate the calcium/helium abundances for the white dwarf stars with metallic lines (DZs) and carbon/helium for carbon-dominated spectra DQs. We found 1 central star of a planetary nebula, 2 new oxygen spectra on helium atmosphere white dwarfs, 71 DQs, 42 hot DO/PG1159s, 171 white dwarf+main-sequence star binaries, 206 magnetic DAHs, 327 continuum-dominated DCs, 397 metal-polluted white dwarfs, 450 helium-dominated white dwarfs, 647 subdwarfs and 6887 new hydrogen-dominated white dwarf stars.
ABSTRACT
The BL Lac object 4FGL J0955.1+3551 has been suggested as a possible source of ultra-energetic neutrinos detected by the IceCube observatory. The target was observed in 2020 January at the ...Large Binocular Telescope. Our spectroscopy (4100–8500 Å) yields a firm redshift z = 0.557 as deduced by the absorption lines of the host galaxy. The upper limit of the minimum equivalent width on emission lines is ∼0.3 Å. From the source image, we are able to resolve the host galaxy for which we measure an absolute magnitude M(R) = −22.9 and Re = 8 kpc, which are values which are typical of the host galaxies of BL Lacs.
ABSTRACT
Blazars research is one of the hot topics of contemporary extragalactic astrophysics. That is because these sources are the most abundant type of extragalactic γ-ray sources and are ...suspected to play a central role in multimessenger astrophysics. We have used Swift$\_$xrtproc, a tool to carry out an accurate spectral and photometric analysis of the Swift-XRT data of all blazars observed by Swift at least 50 times between December 2004 and the end of 2020. We present a database of X-ray spectra, best-fit parameter values, count rates and flux estimations in several energy bands of over 31 000 X-ray observations and single snapshots of 65 blazars. The results of the X-ray analysis have been combined with other multifrequency archival data to assemble the broad-band Spectral Energy Distributions (SEDs) and the long-term light curves of all sources in the sample. Our study shows that large X-ray luminosity variability on different time-scales is present in all objects. Spectral changes are also frequently observed with a ‘harder-when-brighter’ or ‘softer-when-brighter’ behaviour depending on the SED type of the blazars. The peak energy of the synchrotron component (νpeak) in the SED of HBL blazars, estimated from the log-parabolic shape of their X-ray spectra, also exhibits very large changes in the same source, spanning a range of over two orders of magnitude in Mrk421 and Mrk501, the objects with the best data sets in our sample.
Abstract Firmamento ( https://firmamento.hosting.nyu.edu ) is a new-concept, web-based, and mobile-friendly data analysis tool dedicated to multifrequency/multimessenger emitters, as exemplified by ...blazars. Although initially intended to support a citizen researcher project at New York University–Abu Dhabi, Firmamento has evolved to be a valuable tool for professional researchers due to its broad accessibility to classical and contemporary multifrequency open data sets. From this perspective Firmamento facilitates the identification of new blazars and other multifrequency emitters in the localization uncertainty regions of sources detected by current and planned observatories such as Fermi-LAT, Swift, eROSITA, CTA, ASTRI Mini-Array, LHAASO, IceCube, KM3Net, SWGO, etc. The multiepoch and multiwavelength data that Firmamento retrieves from over 90 remote and local catalogs and databases can be used to characterize the spectral energy distribution and the variability properties of cosmic sources as well as to constrain physical models. Firmamento distinguishes itself from other online platforms due to its high specialization, the use of machine learning and other methodologies to characterize the data, and for its commitment to inclusivity. From this particular perspective, its objective is to assist both researchers and citizens interested in science, strengthening a trend that is bound to gain momentum in the coming years as data retrieval facilities improve in power and machine-learning/artificial-intelligence tools become more widely available.
The almost universal availability of electronic connectivity, portable devices, and the web is bringing about a major revolution: information of all kinds is rapidly becoming accessible to everyone, ...transforming social, economic and cultural life practically everywhere in the world. Internet technologies represent an unprecedented and extraordinary two-way channel of communication between producers and users of data. "Open Universe" is an initiative proposed to the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) and currently in implementation under the leadership of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UN-OOSA). Its primary objective is to stimulate a dramatic increase in the availability and usability of space science data, extending the potential of scientific discovery to new participants in all parts of the world. This paper describes the initiative in general, some of the activities carried out to demonstrate its feasibility, and its use in the context of the BRICS Astronomy Programme.
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