Search for High-energy Neutrinos from Binary Neutron Star Merger GW170817 with ANTARES, IceCube, and the Pierre Auger Observatory

E K Porter,Y Bouffanais,P Bacon,E Capocasa,D Fiorucci,M Barsuglia,C Buy,E Chassande‐Mottin ,Collaboration Ligo Scientific ,Virgo Collaboration

doi:10.3847/2041-8213/aa9aed

Abstract

The Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo observatories recently discovered gravitational waves from a binary neutron star inspiral. A short gamma-ray burst (GRB) that followed the merger of this binary was also recorded by the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (Fermi-GBM), and the Anticoincidence Shield for the Spectrometer for the International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL), indicating particle acceleration by the source. The precise location of the event was determined by optical detections of emission following the merger. We searched for high-energy neutrinos from the merger in the GeV--EeV energy range using the ANTARES, IceCube, and Pierre Auger Observatories. No neutrinos directionally coincident with the source were detected within $\pm500$ s around the merger time. Additionally, no MeV neutrino burst signal was detected coincident with the merger. We further carried out an extended search in the direction of the source for high-energy neutrinos within the 14-day period following the merger, but found no evidence of emission. We used these results to probe dissipation mechanisms in relativistic outflows driven by the binary neutron star merger. The non-detection is consistent with model predictions of short GRBs observed at a large off-axis angle.

Highlights

The observation of binary neutron star mergers with multiple cosmic messengers is a unique opportunity that enables the detailed study of the merger process and provides insight into astrophysical particle acceleration and high-energy emission (e.g., Faber & Rasio 2012; Bartos et al 2013; Berger 2014; Abbott et al 2017a)
In this Letter, we present searches for high-energy neutrinos in coincidence with GW170817/gamma-ray burst (GRB) 170817A by the three most sensitive high-energy neutrino observatories: (1) the ANTARES neutrino telescope, a 10 megaton-scale underwater Cherenkov neutrino detector located at a depth of 2500 m in the Mediterranean Sea; (2) the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, a gigaton-scale neutrino detector installed
In detectors such as ANTARES and IceCube, three-dimensional arrays of optical modules deployed in water or ice detect the Cherenkov radiation from secondary charged particles that travel through the instrumented detector region

Summary

Introduction

The observation of binary neutron star mergers with multiple cosmic messengers is a unique opportunity that enables the detailed study of the merger process and provides insight into astrophysical particle acceleration and high-energy emission (e.g., Faber & Rasio 2012; Bartos et al 2013; Berger 2014; Abbott et al 2017a). Binary neutron star mergers are prime sources of gravitational waves (GWs; e.g., Abadie et al 2010), which provide information on the neutron star masses and spins (e.g., Veitch et al 2015). Particle acceleration and high-energy emission by compact objects are currently not well understood (e.g., Mészáros 2013; Kumar & Zhang 2015) and could be deciphered by combined information on the neutron star masses, ejecta mass, and gamma-ray burst (GRB) properties, as expected from multimessenger observations. The source population producing these neutrinos is currently not known

Results

Discussion

Conclusion