Search for muon neutrinos from the gravitational wave event GW170817 at the Baksan Underground Scintillation Telescope

Abstract

Using data of the Baksan Underground Scintillation Telescope we have searched for muon neutrinos and antineutrinos with energies above 1 GeV coinciding with the gravitational wave (GW) event GW170817 that was recorded on August 17, 2017, by the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and Advanced Virgo observatories. This is the first detection of the new type of events occurring as a result of a merger of two neutron stars in a binary system. A short gamma-ray burst (GRB) GRB170817A accompanying this event is evidence of particle acceleration in the source whose precise position was determined by detection of the subsequent optical signal. No neutrino signals were found with the Baksan Underground Scintillation Telescope in the interval ±500 s around the moment of the gravitational wave event GW170817, as well as during the next 14 days. The upper limits on integral fluxes of muon neutrino and antineutrino from the source are derived.