Searching for temporary gamma-ray dark blazars associated with IceCube neutrinos

¹ Theoretical Physics IV: Plasma-Astroparticle Physics, Faculty for Physics & Astronomy, Ruhr University Bochum, 44780 Bochum, Germany
² Faculty for Physics & Astronomy, Astronomical Institute, Ruhr University Bochum, 44780 Bochum, Germany
³ Ruhr Astroparticle And Plasma Physics Center (RAPP Center), Ruhr-Universität Bochum, 44780 Bochum, Germany
⁴ Konkoly Observatory, ELKH Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences, Konkoly Thege Miklós út 15-17, 1121 Budapest, Hungary
e-mail: kun@titan.physx.u-szeged.hu
⁵ CSFK, MTA Centre of Excellence, Konkoly Thege Miklós út 15-17, 1121 Budapest, Hungary
⁶ Department of Physics, University of Florida, PO Box 118440 Gainesville, FL 32611-8440, USA
⁷ MPI for Radioastronomy, 53121 Bonn, Germany
⁸ Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA
⁹ Dept. of Physics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA

Received: 20 April 2023
Accepted: 19 August 2023

Abstract

Context. Tensions between the diffuse gamma-ray sky observed by the Fermi Large Area Telescope (Fermi-LAT) and the diffuse, high-energy neutrino sky detected by the IceCube South Pole Neutrino Observatory raise questions about our knowledge of high-energy neutrino sources in the gamma-ray regime. While blazars are among the most energetic persistent particle accelerators in the Universe, studies suggest that they could account for up to 10–30% of the neutrino flux measured by IceCube.

Aims. Our recent results highlight that the associated IceCube neutrinos arrived in a local gamma-ray minimum (dip) of three strong neutrino point-source candidates. Here, we increase the sample of neutrino-source candidates in order to study their gamma-ray light curves.

Methods. We generated the one-year Fermi-LAT light curve for eight neutrino-source candidate blazars (RBS 0958, GB6 J1040+0617, PKS 1313-333, TXS 0506+056, PKS 1454-354, NVSS J042025-374443, PKS 0426-380, and PKS 1502+106), centered on the detection time of the associated IceCube neutrinos. We applied the Bayesian block algorithm to the light curves to characterize their variability.

Results. Our results indicate that GB6 J1040+0617 was in a phase of high gamma-ray activity, while none of the other seven neutrino-source candidates were statistically bright during the detection of the corresponding neutrinos; indeed, most of the time neutrinos arrived in a faint gamma-ray phase of the light curves. This suggests either that the eight source candidate blazars (associated with seven neutrino events) in our reduced sample are not the sources of the corresponding IceCube neutrinos, or that an in-source effect (e.g., the suppression of gamma rays due to high gamma-gamma opacity) complicates the multimessenger scenario of neutrino emission for these blazars.