Blazar constraints on neutrino-dark matter scattering

Understand

Neutrino emission in coincidence with gamma rays has been observed from the blazar TXS 0506+056 by the IceCube telescope.

• Neutrinos from the blazar had to pass through a dense spike of dark matter (DM) surrounding the central black hole.
• The observation of such a neutrino implies new upper bounds on the neutrino-DM scattering cross section as a function of DM mass.
• The constraint is stronger than existing ones for a range of DM masses, if the cross section rises linearly with energy.