A pilot submillimeter search for IceCube neutrino counterparts: JCMT follow-up and dusty-galaxy catalog associations
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: The submillimeter band offers a complementary route to identifying electromagnetic counterparts of high-energy neutrinos, tracing relativistic transients and persistent dust-obscured galaxies. We present a pilot search combining JCMT/SCUBA-2 follow-up of IceCube events with catalog searches for bright high-redshift dusty systems. Among nine rapidly observed IceCube fields, sources of particular interest were found in three: JCMT0402-0424 ("Shadow Blaster") in IC 210922A, a transient-like source following IC 220115A, and two known blazars in IC 240105A. ALMA resolved the Shadow Blaster into a strongly lensed dusty star-forming galaxy at z=2.988 with a compact gas-rich starburst core. Motivated by this result, we cross-matched IceCube localizations with the Herschel Bright Sources (HerBS) and Planck High-Redshift Source Candidate (PHZ) catalogs. Among 51 historical IceCube events with A_bbox,90 <= pi deg^2, four fields contain at least one HerBS source, compared with 0.723 expected from right-ascension scrambling (fixed-cut p=4.18e-3). Scanning the localization-area threshold gives p_global,A=0.0135. Applying the same IceCube selection to PHZ gives four associated fields versus 3.544 expected (p=0.478). Because the focused HerBS selection followed a broader exploratory analysis with trials-corrected p_global=0.130, the focused result is suggestive rather than definitive. The four well-localized HerBS fields contain six high-redshift DSFGs with apparent L_IR~10^13 L_sun. ALMA imaging and published spectroscopy reveal compact or multiple-component morphologies, extreme molecular-gas kinematics, and possible obscured nuclear activity. These results support a hierarchical strategy: identify luminous submillimeter candidates through wide-field imaging and catalogs, then characterize them at high angular resolution to test for compact gas-rich calorimetric conditions and obscured AGN activity.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Authors: Urata, Yuji, Huang, Kuiyun
Institution: Chung Yuan Christian University
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funders: National Science Foundation, National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand, Academia Sinica, Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, National Science and Technology Council, Science and Technology Facilities Council, National Institutes of Natural Sciences
OpenAlex ID: W7212068168