Abstract: Active galaxies, especially blazars, are among the most promising extragalactic candidates for high-energy neutrino sources. To date, ANTARES searches included these objects and used GeV-TeV gamma-ray flux to select blazars. Here, a statistically complete blazar sample selected by their bright radio emission is used as the target for searches of origins of neutrinos collected by the ANTARES neutrino telescope over 13 yr of operation. The hypothesis of a neutrino-blazar directional correlation is tested by pair counting and a complementary likelihood-based approach. The resulting posttrial p-value is 3.0% (2.2 sigma in the two-sided convention). Additionally, a time-dependent analysis is performed to search for temporal clustering of neutrino candidates as a means of detecting neutrino flares in blazars. None of the investigated sources alone reaches a significant flare detection level. However, the presence of 18 sources with a pretrial significance above 3 sigma indicates a p = 1.4% (2.5 sigma in the two-sided convention) detection of a time-variable neutrino flux. An a posteriori investigation reveals an intriguing temporal coincidence of neutrino, radio, and gamma-ray flares of the J0242+1101 blazar at a p = 0.5% (2.9 sigma in the two-sided convention) level. Altogether, the results presented here suggest a possible connection of neutrino candidates detected by the ANTARES telescope with radio-bright blazars.

Abstract: We generate new standard solar models using newly analyzed nuclear fusion cross sections and present results for helioseismic quantities and solar neutrino fluxes. The status of the solar abundance problem is discussed. We investigate whether nonstandard solar models with accretion from the protoplanetary disk might alleviate this problem. We examine a broad range of models, analyzing metal-enriched and metal-depleted accretion and three scenarios for the timing of accretion. Only partial solutions are found. Formetal-rich accreted material (Z(ac) greater than or similar to 0.018) there exist combinations of accreted mass and metallicity that bring the depth of the convective zone into agreement with the helioseismic value. For the surface helium abundance, the helioseismic value is reproduced if metal-poor or metal-free accretion is assumed (Z(ac) less than or similar to 0.09). In both cases a few percent of the solar mass must be accreted. Precise values depend on when accretion takes place. We do not find a simultaneous solution to both problems but speculate that changing the hydrogen-to-helium mass ratio in the accreted material may lead to more satisfactory solutions. We also show that, with current data, solar neutrinos are already a very competitive source of information about the solar core and can help constraining possible accretion histories. Even without helioseismic constraints, solar neutrinos rule out the possibility that more than 0.02 M(circle dot) from the protoplanetary disk were accreted after the Sun settled on the main sequence. Finally, we discuss how measurements of neutrinos from the CN cycle could shed light on the interaction between the early Sun and its protoplanetary disk.

Abstract: A thorough search for large-scale anisotropies in the distribution of arrival directions of cosmic rays detected above 10(18) eV at the Pierre Auger Observatory is reported. For the first time, these large-scale anisotropy searches are performed as a function of both the right ascension and the declination and expressed in terms of dipole and quadrupole moments. Within the systematic uncertainties, no significant deviation from isotropy is revealed. Upper limits on dipole and quadrupole amplitudes are derived under the hypothesis that any cosmic ray anisotropy is dominated by such moments in this energy range. These upper limits provide constraints on the production of cosmic rays above 10(18) eV, since they allow us to challenge an origin from stationary galactic sources densely distributed in the galactic disk and emitting predominantly light particles in all directions.

Abstract: Research in many areas of modern physics such as, e. g., indirect searches for dark matter and particle acceleration in supernova remnant shocks rely heavily on studies of cosmic rays (CRs) and associated diffuse emissions (radio, microwave, X-rays, gamma-rays). While very detailed numerical models of CR propagation exist, a quantitative statistical analysis of such models has been so far hampered by the large computational effort that those models require. Although statistical analyses have been carried out before using semi-analytical models (where the computation is much faster), the evaluation of the results obtained from such models is difficult, as they necessarily suffer from many simplifying assumptions. The main objective of this paper is to present a working method for a full Bayesian parameter estimation for a numerical CR propagation model. For this study, we use the GALPROP code, the most advanced of its kind, which uses astrophysical information, and nuclear and particle data as inputs to self-consistently predict CRs, gamma-rays, synchrotron, and other observables. We demonstrate that a full Bayesian analysis is possible using nested sampling and Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods (implemented in the SuperBayeS code) despite the heavy computational demands of a numerical propagation code. The best-fit values of parameters found in this analysis are in agreement with previous, significantly simpler, studies also based on GALPROP.

Abstract: Measurements of air showers made using the hybrid technique developed with the fluorescence and surface detectors of the Pierre Auger Observatory allow a sensitive search for point sources of EeV photons anywhere in the exposed sky. A multivariate analysis reduces the background of hadronic cosmic rays. The search is sensitive to a declination band from -85 degrees to +20 degrees, in an energy range from 10(17.3) eV to 10(18.5) eV. No photon point source has been detected. An upper limit on the photon flux has been derived for every direction. The mean value of the energy flux limit that results from this, assuming a photon spectral index of -2, is 0.06 eV cm(-2) s(-1), and no celestial direction exceeds 0.25 eV cm(-2) s(-1). These upper limits constrain scenarios in which EeV cosmic ray protons are emitted by non-transient sources in the Galaxy.