Search for Extremely-High-Energy Neutrinos and First Constraints on the Ultrahigh-Energy Cosmic-Ray Proton Fraction with IceCube
Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 2025

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 1018 eV to a level of E2φνe+νμ+ντ≃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.

Författare

R. Abbasi

Loyola University of Chicago

M. Ackermann

Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY)

J. Adams

University of Canterbury

S. K. Agarwalla

University of Wisconsin Madison

Institute of Physics Bhubaneswar

J.A. Aguilar

Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB)

M. Ahlers

Niels Bohr Institute

J. M. Alameddine

Technische Universität Dortmund

N.M. Amin

University of Delaware

K. Andeen

Marquette University

C. Argüelles

Harvard University

Y. Ashida

University of Utah

S. Athanasiadou

Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY)

S. N. Axani

University of Delaware

R. Babu

Michigan State University

X. Bai

South Dakota School of Mines & Technology

A. V. Balagopal

University of Wisconsin Madison

M. Baricevic

University of Wisconsin Madison

S. W. Barwick

University of California

S. Bash

Technische Universität München

V. Basu

University of Wisconsin Madison

R. Bay

University of California

J.J. Beatty

Ohio State University

Julia Tjus

Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Chalmers, Rymd-, geo- och miljövetenskap, Astronomi och plasmafysik

J. Beise

Uppsala universitet

C. Bellenghi

Technische Universität München

S. Benzvi

University of Rochester

D. Berley

University of Maryland

E. Bernardini

Università di Padova

D. Z. Besson

University of Kansas

E. Blaufuss

University of Maryland

L. Bloom

University of Alabama

S. Blot

Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY)

F. Bontempo

Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)

J.Y. Book Motzkin

Harvard University

C. Boscolo Meneguolo

Università di Padova

S. Böser

Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz

O. Botner

Uppsala universitet

J. Böttcher

RWTH Aachen University

J. Braun

University of Wisconsin Madison

B. Brinson

Georgia Institute of Technology

Z. Brisson-Tsavoussis

Queen's University

J. Brostean-Kaiser

Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY)

L. Brusa

RWTH Aachen University

R. T. Burley

University of Adelaide

D. Butterfield

University of Wisconsin Madison

M.A. Campana

Drexel University

I. Caracas

Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz

K. Carloni

Harvard University

J. Carpio

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

S. Chattopadhyay

Institute of Physics Bhubaneswar

University of Wisconsin Madison

N. Chau

Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB)

Z. Chen

Stony Brook University

D. Chirkin

University of Wisconsin Madison

S. Choi

Sungkyunkwan University

B.A. Clark

University of Maryland

A. Coleman

Uppsala universitet

P. Coleman

RWTH Aachen University

G.H. Collin

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

A. Connolly

Ohio State University

J.M. Conrad

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

R. Corley

University of Utah

D. F. Cowen

Pennsylvania State University

Eberly College of Science

C. De Clercq

Vrije Universiteit Brüssel (VUB)

J.J. Delaunay

University of Alabama

D. Delgado

Harvard University

S. Deng

RWTH Aachen University

A. Desai

University of Wisconsin Madison

P. Desiati

University of Wisconsin Madison

K. D. De Vries

Vrije Universiteit Brüssel (VUB)

G. De Wasseige

Universite catholique de Louvain

T. Deyoung

Michigan State University

A. Diaz

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

J. C. Díaz-Vélez

University of Wisconsin Madison

P. Dierichs

RWTH Aachen University

M. Dittmer

Universität Münster

A. Domi

Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen Nurnberg (FAU)

L. Draper

University of Utah

H. Dujmovic

University of Wisconsin Madison

D. Durnford

University of Alberta

K. Dutta

Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz

M. A. Duvernois

University of Wisconsin Madison

T. Ehrhardt

Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz

L. Eidenschink

Technische Universität München

A. Eimer

Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen Nurnberg (FAU)

P. Eller

Technische Universität München

E. Ellinger

Bergische Universität Wuppertal

S. El Mentawi

RWTH Aachen University

D. Elsaesser

Technische Universität Dortmund

R. Engel

Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)

H. Erpenbeck

University of Wisconsin Madison

W. Esmail

Universität Münster

J. Evans

University of Maryland

P.A. Evenson

University of Delaware

K.L. Fan

University of Maryland

K. Fang

University of Wisconsin Madison

K. Farrag

Chiba University

A. R. Fazely

Southern University and A&M College

A. Fedynitch

Academia Sinica

N. Feigl

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

S. Fiedlschuster

Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen Nurnberg (FAU)

Physical Review Letters

0031-9007 (ISSN) 1079-7114 (eISSN)

Vol. 135 3 031001

Ämneskategorier (SSIF 2025)

Astronomi, astrofysik och kosmologi

Subatomär fysik

DOI

10.1103/PhysRevLett.135.031001

Mer information

Senast uppdaterat

2026-06-15