A time dependent search for neutrino emission from microquasars with the ANTARES telescope

The ANTARES collaboration has successfully built, deployed and is currently operating an underwater Cherenkov detector dedicated to high energy neutrino astronomy. The primary aim of the experiment is to detect cosmic sources of neutrinos in order to reveal the production sites of cosmic rays. Among the sources likely to be signi cant sources of neutrinos are those accelerating relativistic jets, like gamma ray bursts, active galactic nuclei and microquasars. Microquasars are binary systems formed by a compact object accreting mass from a companion star. The mass transfer causes the emission of X-rays, whereas the onset of magnetic forces in the accreting plasma can cause the acceleration of relativistic jets, which are observed by radio telescopes via their non-thermal synchrotron emission. In some systems, a correlation between X-ray and radio light curves indicates an interplay between accretion and ejection respectively. Some microquasars are also high energy and very high energy gamma ray emitters. In this thesis, a time dependent search for neutrino emission from microquasars was performed with a multi-messenger approach (photon/neutrino). The data from the X-ray monitors RXTE/ASM and SWIFT/BAT, and the gamma-ray telescope FERMI/LAT were used to select transient events in which the source was supposed to accelerate relativistic jets. The restriction of the analysis to the ejection periods allows a drastic reduction of atmospheric muon and neutrino background, and thus to increase the chances of a discovery. The search was performed with the ANTARES data taken between 2007 and 2010. Statistical analysis was carried out using an unbinned likelihood method based on a likelihood ratio test. The cuts for the event selection were optimized in order to maximize the chance of a discovery. As no neutrino signal was observed in correlation with these microquasars, upper limits on the neutrino uxes of the microquasars under study were calculated and compared with some models of neutrino production in these objects.

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Source https://theses.hal.science/tel-00782883
Author Galata, Salvatore
Maintainer CCSD
Last Updated May 14, 2026, 19:42 (UTC)
Created May 14, 2026, 19:42 (UTC)
Identifier tel-00782883
Language en
Rights https://about.hal.science/hal-authorisation-v1/
contributor ANTARES ; Centre de Physique des Particules de Marseille (CPPM) ; Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
creator Galata, Salvatore
date 2012-04-05T00:00:00
harvest_object_id 977d1319-d9ae-42f8-bec2-fc5cbb499a57
harvest_source_id 3374d638-d20b-4672-ba96-a23232d55657
harvest_source_title test moissonnage SELUNE
metadata_modified 2024-04-11T00:00:00
set_spec type:THESE