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Free keywords:
Astrophysics, High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, astro-ph.HE
MPINP:
Hochenergie-Astrophysik Theorie - Abteilung Hofmann
Abstract:
We demonstrate that the excess of sub-PeV/PeV neutrinos recently discovered
by IceCube could originate through hadronuclear processes from the same sources
responsible for cosmic rays (CRs) with energy above the second knee at $\sim
5\times 10^{17}\,$eV. We furthermore propose that hypernova remnants with
semi-relativistic ejecta in star-forming galaxies are these sources. By virtue
of their fast ejecta, such objects can accelerate protons to $\gtrsim \,$EeV
energies, and the resulting {CRs} can interact with the dense surrounding
medium during propagation in their host galaxies to produce high-energy
neutrinos and gamma rays via proton--proton collisions. A scenario in which
hypernova remnants account for the observed CR flux above the second knee can
also account for the neutrino flux detected by IceCube. The accompanying gamma
ray flux remains below the diffuse isotropic gamma ray background observed by
the {\it Fermi} Large Area Telescope (LAT).
