Investigating the Correlation between ZTF Tidal Disruption Events and IceCube High-energy Neutrinos

Abstract Investigating the correlation between the tidal disruption event (TDE) population and IceCube neutrinos could help us better understand whether TDEs could be potential high-energy neutrino emitters. In this paper, we perform a systematic search for TDEs that are associated with neutrinos in a sample including 143 IceCube neutrino alert events and 52 TDEs classified by the Zwicky Transient Facility Bright Transient Survey. Furthermore, considering that the TDEs/TDE candidates reported as potential IceCube neutrino emitters are all accompanied by infrared (IR) echo emission, we further select TDEs with IR echoes from these 52 TDEs as a subsample to examine their correlation with neutrinos. Based on the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer mission database, seven TDEs are identified as having IR echoes. Then we employ Monte Carlo simulations to quantify the correlation between the TDE sample/subsample and IceCube neutrinos. Finally, after considering spatial and temporal criteria, the seven TDEs with IR echoes show the most significant correlation at the 2.46 σ confidence level. If we tentatively further take the time delay factor into account, the correlation enhances to the 2.66 σ confidence level. The correlation is primarily contributed by two TDEs: AT2019dsg and AT2019azh. The latter’s association with a neutrino alert, IC230217A, is newly reported in this work. We discuss the possible physical connection between AT2019azh and the neutrino event IC230217A.