Scientists Link 220 Million-Billion-eV Neutrino to Black Hole Blazars
Updated
Updated · Space.com · May 28
Scientists Link 220 Million-Billion-eV Neutrino to Black Hole Blazars
4 articles · Updated · Space.com · May 28
A 2023 neutrino detected 3,450 meters beneath the Mediterranean carried 220 million billion electron volts—about 30 times the previous record—and researchers say a population of blazars could explain its origin.
Their modeling points to black hole-powered blazars rather than a single explosive event, after searches found no matching radio, optical, X-ray or gamma-ray signal from the apparent source region.
The simulations also had to fit strict constraints: such events must be rare because KM3NeT and IceCube have not seen similar particles, and the associated gamma rays cannot exceed the background measured by NASA's Fermi telescope.
If confirmed with more detections, the result would suggest blazars can accelerate particles to energies far beyond human-made colliders—the neutrino carried roughly 30,000 times the Large Hadron Collider's reach.
Did a monster black hole shoot the most powerful 'ghost particle' ever recorded at Earth?
Could this record-breaking 'ghost particle' be a relic from the early universe instead of a blazar?
Unveiling the Universe’s Most Energetic Neutrino: The 220 PeV KM3NeT Event and the Blazar Connection
Overview
On February 13, 2023, the KM3NeT/ARCA observatory made a groundbreaking discovery by detecting an ultra-high-energy neutrino with an energy of 220 PeV, a level never before recorded by any observatory. This event immediately stood out due to its exceptional energy and the fact that no other detectors, including IceCube, had observed anything similar. The rarity of such a particle highlights its significance and poses a major challenge for scientists trying to explain its origin. This discovery has sparked a focused effort to observe more of these rare events, marking a profound step forward in astrophysics.