A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Probing the statistical correlation of optical tidal disruption events with high-energy neutrinos
Authors: Langis, D. A.; Liodakis, I.; Koljonen, K. I. I.; Kouch, P. M.
Publisher: EDP Sciences
Publication year: 2026
Journal: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Article number: A28
Volume: 709
ISSN: 0004-6361
eISSN: 1432-0746
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202556514
Publication's open availability at the time of reporting: Open Access
Publication channel's open availability : Open Access publication channel
Web address : https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202556514
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/523286361
Self-archived copy's licence: CC BY
Self-archived copy's version: Publisher`s PDF
High-energy (HE) neutrinos have been observed by the IceCube (IC) Neutrino Observatory for over a decade. Nevertheless, the astrophysical origin and the responsible mechanisms producing these HE neutrinos are still a mystery, with many astrophysical phenomena as potential emitters. A plethora of previous studies have attempted to study the correlation between HE neutrinos and active galactic nuclei, finding inconclusive results. Tidal disruption events (TDEs) have been proposed as candidate HE neutrino emitters, yet there is only one prior statistical study for the correlation of the two due to the limited number of observed TDEs. For this reason we used TDECat, an optical TDE repository, to investigate the potential association of TDEs with IceCube HE neutrino events. We implemented a spatio-temporal algorithm, where the temporal constraint is based on the transient nature of TDEs. We also simulated two sets of TDEs, correlated differently with neutrinos, to further study their statistical correlation. Despite the individual cases of TDE AT2019dsg and AT2021lo, we find no statistical association between optical TDEs and HE neutrinos. We find jetted TDE Sw J2058+05 to be spatio-temporally associated with a neutrino event. However, a gamma-ray-flaring, flat-spectrum radio quasar is also within the neutrino's sky error region. Although our findings indicate no statistical correlation between optical TDEs and HE neutrinos, this correlation should be further studied in the future. Upcoming surveys such as the Legacy Survey of Space and Time, coupled with next-generation neutrino observatories, such as KM3NET and IceCube-Gen2, will expand both TDE and HE neutrino populations, clarifying their potential correlation.
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Funding information in the publication:
BOOTES - 101076343. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Council Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. KIIK has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 101002352, PI: M. Linares). PMK was supported by Academy of Finland projects 346071 and 345899. Computations for this paper were partially conducted on the Metropolis cluster, supported by the Institute of Theoretical and Computational Physics at the Department of Physics, University of Crete.