Scientists may have found the source of the most powerful neutrino ever detected
Scientists detected the most energetic neutrino ever recorded—220 PeV—off Sicily’s coast in February 2023, and a new study in *Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics* suggests blazars, extreme supermassive black holes, may be the source. Researchers used simulations to propose that a diffuse flux of neutrinos from multiple blazars could explain the particle’s origin, despite no matching electromagnetic signals being found.
The KM3NeT/ARCA neutrino observatory, still under construction off Sicily’s coast, detected the highest-energy neutrino ever recorded on February 13, 2023. The particle, with an energy of 220 PeV—over ten times stronger than previously detected neutrinos—originated from deep space, but its source remained unknown until now. A study published in the *Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics (JCAP)* proposes blazars—supermassive black holes emitting plasma jets toward Earth—as the likely origin. Researchers ruled out a single dramatic cosmic event after finding no corresponding electromagnetic signals, such as gamma rays or X-rays, from the neutrino’s direction. Instead, the team used the open-source simulation tool AM3 to model a population of blazars as potential neutrino sources. By adjusting factors like proton energy and spectral index, they found that a diffuse background of neutrinos from many blazars could produce the observed particle. Meriem Bendahman, a researcher at INFN Naples and part of the KM3NeT collaboration, noted that while other theories exist—such as interactions between cosmic rays and the cosmic microwave background—the blazar hypothesis fits the data best. The study suggests that future observations with the fully operational KM3NeT detector could confirm whether blazars are indeed the universe’s most extreme neutrino producers.
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