IceCube astrophysical neutrinos without a spectral cutoff and (1015-1017) eV cosmic gamma radiation
Abstract
We present a range of unbroken power-law fits to the astrophysical-neutrino spectrum consistent with the most recent published IceCube data at the 68\% confidence level. Assuming that the neutrinos originate in decays of pi mesons, we estimate accompanying gamma-ray fluxes for various distributions of sources, taking propagation effects into account. We then briefly discuss existing experimental results constraining PeV to EeV diffuse gamma-ray flux and their systematic uncertainties. Several scenarios are marginally consistent both with the KASKADE and CASA-MIA upper limits at (1015-1016) eV and with the EAS-MSU tentative detection at ~1017 eV, given large systematic errors of the measurements. Future searches for the diffuse gamma-ray background at sub-PeV to sub-EeV energies just below present upper limits will give a crucial diagnostic tool for distinguishing between the Galactic and extragalactic models of the origin of the IceCube events.
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