“The era of multimessenger astrophysics is here,” said France Córdova (NSF Director)
IceCube Neutrino Observatory points out the evidence for the observation of the first known source of high-energy neutrinos and cosmic rays. A high energy neutrino detected by IceCube on September 22, 2017 ushered the scientist group to its source, a blazar designated by astronomers as TXS 0506+056.
Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and Major Atmospheric Gamma Imaging Cherenkov Telescope (MAGIC) also detected a flare of high-energy gamma rays associated with TXS 0506+056, a convergence of observations that convincingly implicated the blazar as the most likely source.
+) Science 361, eaat1378 (2018) “Multimessenger observations of a flaring blazar coincident with high-energy neutrino IceCube-170922A”
+) Science 361, 147-151 (2018) “Neutrino emission from the direction of the blazar TXS 0506+056 prior to the IceCube-170922A alert”
- IceCube news: “IceCube Neutrinos Point to Long-Sought Cosmic Ray Accelerator”
- Journal Science article: “Ghostly particle caught in polar ice ushers in new way to look at the universe”
- Press conference live-streamed at NSF HQ
© Jamie Yang and Savannah Guthrie/IceCube/NSF
© IceCube/NSF
© IceCube Collaboration (in YouTube)