Hot spots in the neutrino flux created by cosmic rays from Cygnus and Vela

An analysis of 7.5 years of data in the high-energy starting event sample has been recently published by the IceCube collaboration. The hottest spot in a search for neutrino sources was found far above the Galactic plane and is thus, at first sight, difficult to reconcile with a Galactic origin. In this work, we calculate the cosmic ray (CR) density around nearby, young supernova remnants assuming anisotropic diffusion. Combining the obtained CR densities with the matter distribution deduced from extinction maps, we find two prominent hot spots: The one close to the most significant point in the IceCube search for point sources is created by CRs from the Cygnus loop and has an intensity corresponding to two to four neutrino events. Another, more extended one may be caused by CRs from Vela if CR trajectories are sufficiently disturbed by the magnetic field in the shell around the superbubble loop I.

Automated summary

The IceCube collaboration has recently published a study analyzing 7.5 years of data in the high-energy starting event sample. They found a hotspot in the search for neutrino sources, which is located far above the Galactic plane and poses a challenge for its Galactic origin. By calculating the cosmic ray density around nearby young supernova remnants and combining it with the matter distribution, two prominent hotspots were identified, one caused by cosmic rays from the Cygnus loop and the other potentially caused by cosmic rays from Vela.