High energy neutrinos from astrophysical sources: An upper bound

Eli Waxman and John Bahcall
Phys. Rev. D 59, 023002 – Published 14 December 1998
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Abstract

We show that cosmic-ray observations set a model-independent upper bound of Eν2Φν<2×108GeV/cm2ssr to the intensity of high-energy neutrinos produced by photo-meson (or pp) interactions in sources of size not much larger than the proton photo-meson (or pp) mean-free-path. This bound applies, in particular, to neutrino production by either AGN jets or GRBs. The upper limit is two orders of magnitude below the intensity predicted in some popular AGN jet models and therefore contradicts the theory that the cosmic gamma-ray background is due to photo-pion interactions in AGN jets. The upper bound is consistent with our predictions from GRB models. The predicted intensity from GRBs is E2dN/dE0.3×108GeV/cm2ssr for 1014eV<E<1016eV; we also derive the expected intensity at higher energy.

  • Received 10 June 1998

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.59.023002

©1998 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Eli Waxman* and John Bahcall

  • Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey 08540

  • *Email address: waxman@sns.ias.edu
  • Email address: jnb@sns.ias.edu

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Issue

Vol. 59, Iss. 2 — 15 January 1999

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