Compact dusty starbursts at cosmic noon linked to high-energy neutrinos

Abstract

The origin of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos remains unresolved, and secure electromagnetic counterparts to individual events are rare despite rapid follow-up. Dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs) at cosmic noon (z ~ 1-4) are natural cosmic-ray calorimeters, yet observational links between DSFGs and neutrinos have remained elusive. Here we report a compact-core DSFG within an IceCube localization, JCMT0402-0424, a quadruply lensed galaxy at z = 2.988 located inside the 90% containment region of the IceCube event IC 210922A. ALMA imaging and lens modeling resolve a highly magnified, compact starburst with no bright gamma-ray or X-ray counterpart above current sensitivity limits. Considering the positional agreement, the low chance-coincidence probability (less than about 1%) for such an extreme submillimeter source, the absence of equally plausible alternatives in the field, and the compact, gas-rich core revealed by ALMA, JCMT0402-0424 is the most plausible electromagnetic counterpart candidate within the IC 210922A localization. In a population context, compact-core starbursts at cosmic noon can provide a non-negligible population-level contribution to the diffuse high-energy neutrino background, even though the neutrino yield from any single DSFG is modest. This result connects high-energy neutrino production to the peak epoch of cosmic star formation, opening a new avenue to probe galaxy evolution and cosmic-ray acceleration across cosmic time.