A Search for Low-energy Neutrinos Correlated with Gravitational Wave Events GW 150914, GW 151226, and GW 170104 with the Borexino Detector

Abstract We present the results of a low-energy neutrino search using the Borexino detector in coincidence with the gravitational wave (GW) events GW 150914, GW 151226, and GW 170104. We searched for correlated neutrino events with visible energies greater than 250 keV within a time window of ±500 s centered around the GW detection time. A total of five candidates were found for all three GW events combined. This is consistent with the expected number of solar neutrino and background events. As a result, we have obtained the best current upper limits on all flavor neutrino ( <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>ν</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>e</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> <mml:mo>,</mml:mo> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>ν</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>μ</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> <mml:mo>,</mml:mo> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>ν</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>τ</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> </mml:math> ) fluence associated with GW events, in the neutrino energy range 0.5–5.0 MeV.