ANTARES and HESS Collaborations(Petroff, E. et al), Barrios-Marti, J., Hernandez-Rey, J. J., Illuminati, G., Lotze, M., Tönnis, C., et al. (2017). A polarized fast radio burst at low Galactic latitude. Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc., 469(4), 4465–4482.
Abstract: We report on the discovery of a new fast radio burst (FRB), FRB 150215, with the Parkes radio telescope on 2015 February 15. The burst was detected in real time with a dispersion measure (DM) of 1105.6 +/- 0.8 pc cm(-3), a pulse duration of 2.8(-0.5)(+1.2) ms, and a measured peak flux density assuming that the burst was at beam centre of 0.7(-0.1)(+0.2) Jy. The FRB originated at a Galactic longitude and latitude of 24.66 degrees, 5.28 degrees and 25 degrees away from the Galactic Center. The burst was found to be 43 +/- 5 per cent linearly polarized with a rotation measure (RM) in the range -9 < RM < 12 rad m(-2) (95 per cent confidence level), consistent with zero. The burst was followed up with 11 telescopes to search for radio, optical, X-ray, gamma-ray and neutrino emission. Neither transient nor variable emission was found to be associated with the burst and no repeat pulses have been observed in 17.25 h of observing. The sightline to the burst is close to the Galactic plane and the observed physical properties of FRB 150215 demonstrate the existence of sight lines of anomalously low RM for a given electron column density. The Galactic RM foreground may approach a null value due to magnetic field reversals along the line of sight, a decreased total electron column density from the Milky Way, or some combination of these effects. A lower Galactic DM contribution might explain why this burst was detectable whereas previous searches at low latitude have had lower detection rates than those out of the plane.
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KM3NeT Collaboration(Adrian-Martinez, S. et al), Barrios-Marti, J., Calvo, D., Hernandez-Rey, J. J., Illuminati, G., Lotze, M., et al. (2017). Intrinsic limits on resolutions in muon- and electron-neutrino charged-current events in the KM3NeT/ORCA detector. J. High Energy Phys., 05(5), 008–39pp.
Abstract: Studying atmospheric neutrino oscillations in the few-GeV range with a multimegaton detector promises to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy. This is the main science goal pursued by the future KM3NeT/ORCA water Cherenkov detector in the Mediterranean Sea. In this paper, the processes that limit the obtainable resolution in both energy and direction in charged-current neutrino events in the ORCA detector are investigated. These processes include the composition of the hadronic fragmentation products, the subsequent particle propagation and the photon-sampling fraction of the detector. GEANT simulations of neutrino interactions in seawater produced by GENIE are used to study the effects in the 1-20 GeV range. It is found that fluctuations in the hadronic cascade in conjunction with the variation of the inelasticity y are most detrimental to the resolutions. The effect of limited photon sampling in the detector is of significantly less importance. These results will therefore also be applicable to similar detectors/media, such as those in ice.
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ANTARES Collaboration(Albert, A. et al), Barrios-Marti, J., Coleiro, A., Hernandez-Rey, J. J., Illuminati, G., Lotze, M., et al. (2017). Search for relativistic magnetic monopoles with five years of the ANTARES detector data. J. High Energy Phys., 07(7), 054–19pp.
Abstract: A search for magnetic monopoles using five years of data recorded with the ANTARES neutrino telescope from January 2008 to December 2012 with a total live time of 1121 days is presented. The analysis is carried out in the range beta > 0.6 of magnetic monopole velocities using a strategy based on run-by-run Monte Carlo simulations. No signal above the background expectation from atmospheric muons and atmospheric neutrinos is observed, and upper limits are set on the magnetic monopole flux ranging from 5.7 x 10(-16) to 1.5 x 10(-18) cm(-2).s(-1).sr(-1).
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ANTARES Collaboration(Adrian-Martinez, S. et al), Barrios-Marti, J., Hernandez-Rey, J. J., Sanchez-Losa, A., Tönnis, C., Zornoza, J. D., et al. (2016). Murchison Widefield Array Limits on Radio Emission from ANTARES Neutrino Events. Astrophys. J. Lett., 820(2), L24–7pp.
Abstract: We present a search, using the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA), for electromagnetic (EM) counterparts to two candidate high-energy neutrino events detected by the ANTARES neutrino telescope in 2013 November and 2014 March. These events were selected by ANTARES because they are consistent, within 0 degrees.4, with the locations of galaxies within 20 Mpc of Earth. Using MWA archival data at frequencies between 118 and 182 MHz, taken similar to 20. days prior to, at the same time as, and up to a year after the neutrino triggers, we look for transient or strongly variable radio sources that are consistent with the neutrino positions. No such counterparts are detected, and we set a 5 sigma upper limit for low-frequency radio emission of similar to 10(37) erg s(-1) for progenitors at 20 Mpc. If the neutrino sources are instead not in nearby galaxies, but originate in binary neutron star coalescences, our limits place the progenitors at z greater than or similar to 0.2. While it is possible, due to the high background from atmospheric neutrinos, that neither event is astrophysical, the MWA observations are nevertheless among the first to follow up neutrino candidates in the radio, and illustrate the promise of wide-field instruments like MWA for detecting EM counterparts to such events.
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ANTARES Collaboration(Bhandari, S. et al), Barrios-Marti, J., Coleiro, A., Hernandez-Rey, J. J., Illuminati, G., Tönnis, C., et al. (2018). The SUrvey for Pulsars and Extragalactic Radio Bursts – II. New FRB discoveries and their follow-up. Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc., 475(2), 1427–1446.
Abstract: We report the discovery of four Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) in the ongoing SUrvey for Pulsars and Extragalactic Radio Bursts at the Parkes Radio Telescope: FRBs 150610, 151206, 151230 and 160102. Our real-time discoveries have enabled us to conduct extensive, rapid multimessenger follow-up at 12 major facilities sensitive to radio, optical, X-ray, gamma-ray photons and neutrinos on time-scales ranging from an hour to a few months post-burst. No counterparts to the FRBs were found and we provide upper limits on afterglow luminosities. None of the FRBs were seen to repeat. Formal fits to all FRBs show hints of scattering while their intrinsic widths are unresolved in time. FRB 151206 is at low Galactic latitude, FRB 151230 shows a sharp spectral cut-off, and FRB 160102 has the highest dispersion measure (DM = 2596.1 +/- 0.3 pc cm(-3)) detected to date. Three of the FRBs have high dispersion measures (DM > 1500 pc cm(-3)), favouring a scenario where the DMis dominated by contributions from the intergalactic medium. The slope of the Parkes FRB source counts distribution with fluences > 2 Jy ms is alpha = – 2.2(-1.2)(+0.6) and still consistent with a Euclidean distribution (alpha = -3/2). We also find that the all-sky rate is 1.7(-0.9)(+1.5) x 10(3)FRBs/(4 pi sr)/day above similar to 2 Jy ms and there is currently no strong evidence for a latitude- dependent FRB sky rate.
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