Title:
Time-Variability and Primordial Black Hole Evaporation: Astrophysical Neutrino Studies

dc.contributor.advisor Taboada, Ignacio
dc.contributor.advisor Otte, A. Nepomuk
dc.contributor.author Dave, Pranav Mayank
dc.contributor.committeeMember Ballantyne, David
dc.contributor.committeeMember Wise, John
dc.contributor.committeeMember Arguelles-Delgado, Carlos
dc.contributor.department Physics
dc.date.accessioned 2023-05-18T17:48:48Z
dc.date.available 2023-05-18T17:48:48Z
dc.date.created 2023-05
dc.date.issued 2023-04-26
dc.date.submitted May 2023
dc.date.updated 2023-05-18T17:48:49Z
dc.description.abstract Our current understanding of the universe stems from observations across the electromagnetic spectrum as well as additional messengers, such as gravitational waves, cosmic rays, and neutrinos. Particularly, we have observed a high-energy astrophysical diffuse neutrino flux using the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole for the past 10 years. However, the specific sources that contribute to this flux are not known. More recently, IceCube reported evidence of neutrino emission from the nearby AGN and Seyfert II galaxy NGC 1068. In this work, I present a new method to ask: Is NGC 1068 a time-variable neutrino source? By applying this method to an identical data sample that was used to report the evidence of emission, I conclude that the neutrino emission from NGC 1068 is consistent with a steady source. This new method can be applied to future candidate point sources observed by IceCube and serves as a source characterization tool. Hawking radiation elegantly unifies quantum field theory, general relativity, and thermodynamics. Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) offer a way to directly observe Hawking radiation as the hole evaporates over the age of the universe. No evidence for Hawking radiation or PBHs has been reported yet and PBHs have been extensively studied as Dark Matter (DM) candidates in the past. In this work, I present a search for high-energy neutrino emission from an individual PBH that is evaporating in our local universe using data collected by IceCube. This is the first time high-energy neutrinos have been used to search for Hawking radiation from an evaporating PBH. Due to null detection in this search, I present an upper limit to the PBH evaporation density rate and compare it to existing limits from gamma-ray telescopes.
dc.description.degree Ph.D.
dc.format.mimetype application/pdf
dc.identifier.uri https://hdl.handle.net/1853/71970
dc.language.iso en_US
dc.publisher Georgia Institute of Technology
dc.subject particle astrophysics
dc.subject neutrino astronomy
dc.subject primordial black holes
dc.subject time-variability
dc.title Time-Variability and Primordial Black Hole Evaporation: Astrophysical Neutrino Studies
dc.type Text
dc.type.genre Dissertation
dspace.entity.type Publication
local.contributor.advisor Taboada, Ignacio
local.contributor.advisor Otte, A. Nepomuk
local.contributor.corporatename College of Sciences
local.contributor.corporatename School of Physics
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relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication 2ba39017-11f1-40f4-9bc5-66f17b8f1539
thesis.degree.level Doctoral
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