Ultra-luminous X-ray pulsars as sources of TeV neutrinos
Ducci L, Perinati E, Romano P, Vercellone S, Nikołajuk M, Santangelo A, Sasaki M (2025)
Publication Type: Journal article
Publication year: 2025
Journal
Book Volume: 701
Article Number: A98
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/202555242
Abstract
We explored the expected properties of the neutrino emission from accreting neutron stars in X-ray binaries using numerical simulations. The simulations are based on a model in which neutrinos are produced by the decay of charged pions and kaons, generated in inelastic collisions between protons accelerated up to TeV energies in the magnetosphere of a magnetized (B ∼ 1012 G) neutron star and protons of the accretion disc. Our results show that this process can produce strong neutrino emission up to a few tens of TeV when the X-ray luminosity is above ∼1039 erg s-1, as in ultra-luminous X-ray (ULX) pulsars. We show that neutrinos from a transient Galactic ULX pulsar with Lx ≈ 5 × 1039 erg s-1 can be detected with kilometre-scale detectors such as IceCube if the source is within about 3-4 kpc. We also derived an upper limit on the neutrino flux from the Galactic ULX pulsar Swift J0243.6+6124 using IceCube data, a result that has not been previously reported. Our findings establish a new benchmark for future astrophysical neutrino observations, critical for interpreting data from current and upcoming instruments with significantly improved sensitivity.
Authors with CRIS profile
Involved external institutions
Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen
Germany (DE)
National Institute for Astrophysics / Istituto Nazionale Astrofisica (INAF)
Italy (IT)
University of Białystok
Poland (PL)
Germany (DE)
National Institute for Astrophysics / Istituto Nazionale Astrofisica (INAF)
Italy (IT)
University of Białystok
Poland (PL)
How to cite
APA:
Ducci, L., Perinati, E., Romano, P., Vercellone, S., Nikołajuk, M., Santangelo, A., & Sasaki, M. (2025). Ultra-luminous X-ray pulsars as sources of TeV neutrinos. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 701. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202555242
MLA:
Ducci, L., et al. "Ultra-luminous X-ray pulsars as sources of TeV neutrinos." Astronomy & Astrophysics 701 (2025).
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