Neutrino emission during the $γ$-suppressed state of blazars

Emma Kun, Imre Bartos, Julia Becker Tjus, Peter L. Biermann, Francis Halzen, György Mező

Published 2020-09-21Version 1

Despite the uncovered association of a high-energy neutrino with the apparent flaring state of blazar TXS 0506+056 in 2017, the mechanisms leading to astrophysical particle acceleration and neutrino production are still uncertain. Recent studies found that blazars in a $\gamma$-flaring state are too sparse for neutrino production, making the multi-messenger observation of TXS 0506+056 difficult to explain. Here we show that the Fermi-LAT $\gamma$ flux of another blazar, PKS 1502+106 was at a local minimum when IceCube recorded a coincident high-energy neutrino IC-190730A. This suggests the presence of a large target photon and proton density that helps produce neutrinos while temporarily suppressing observable $\gamma$ emission. Using data from the OVRO 40-meter Telescope, we find that radio emission from PKS 1502+106 at the time of the coincident neutrino IC-190730A was in a high state, in contrast to other time periods when radio and $\gamma$ fluxes are correlated. This points to an active outflow that is $\gamma$-suppressed at the time of neutrino production. We find similar local $\gamma$ suppression in other blazars, including the MAGIC flux of TXS 0506+056 and the Fermi-LAT flux of PKS B1424-418 at the time of coincident IceCube neutrino detections, further supporting the above model. Using temporary $\gamma$-suppression, neutrino-blazar coincidence searches could be substantially more sensitive than previously assumed, enabling the identification of the origin of IceCube's diffuse neutrino flux possibly with already existing data.