Optical Observations Reveal Strong Evidence for High-energy Neutrino Progenitor

Abstract

We present the earliest astronomical observation of a high energy neutrino error box in which its variability was discovered after high-energy neutrinos detection. The one robotic telescope of the MASTER global international network (Lipunov et al. 2010) automatically imaged the error box of the very high-energy neutrino event IceCube-170922A. Observations were carried out in minute after the IceCube-170922A neutrino event was detected by the IceCube observatory at the South Pole. MASTER found the blazar TXS 0506+056 to be in the off-state after one minute and then switched to the on-state no later than two hours after the event. The effect is observed at a 50-sigma significance level. Also we present own unique 16-years light curve of blazar TXS 0506+056 (518 data set).

First Prompt Optical Observations of Nearest Fast Radio Burst new New Astromomical Method

“…MASTER Global Robotic Net was developed to study the key tasks of modern extreme energy astrophysics: to discover optical counterparts of gamma-ray bursts and to discover polarization of GRB prompt optical emission [24][25][26][27][28][29] ; to independently localize the sources of gravitational wave, detected by LIGO/Virgo 12,13 , to investigate high energy neutrino sources 30 , fast radio bursts sources [31][32][33][34] and other extreme processes in Universe. MASTER conducted optical observations that reveal strong evidence for high energy neutrino progenitor 30 .…”

High‐Energy Neutrinos from the Cosmos

“…What clinched the association was a series of subsequent observations, culminating with the optical observation of the source switching from an “off” to an “on” state 2 h after the emission of IC‐170922A, conclusively associating the neutrino with TXS 0506+056. [ 51 ] The sequence of observations can be summarized as follows: 1)The redshift of the host galaxy, a known blazar, was measured to be . [ 52 ] It is important to realize that nearby blazars like the Markarian sources are at a distance that is ten times closer, and therefore TXS 0506+056, with a similar flux despite the greater distance, is one of the most luminous sources in the universe.…”

“…[ 59 ] 5)The MASTER robotic optical telescope network has been monitoring the source since 2005 and detected its strongest time variation in the last 15 years to occur 2 h after the emission of IC170922, with a second variation following the 2014‐15 burst. [ 51 ] The blazar switches from the “off” to the “on” state 2 h after the emission of the neutrino. After an episode of monitoring the uniformity of their observations of the source in the first quarter of 2020, they argue that the time variation detected on September 22, 2017 conclusively associates the source with the neutrino.…”

“…After an episode of monitoring the uniformity of their observations of the source in the first quarter of 2020, they argue that the time variation detected on September 22, 2017 conclusively associates the source with the neutrino. [ 51 ]…”

“…Recall that the optical observations show a dramatic transition of the blazar from the “off” to the “on” state 2 h after the emission of the neutrino, resulting additionally in the doubling of its total optical luminosity. [ 51 ] Also, the atmospheric gamma‐ray telescopes observe rapid variations in the flux around the time of the neutrino emission, [ 2 ] with the gamma‐ray emission observed by MAGIC only emerging after several days. [ 56 ]…”