On the Potential Cosmogenic Origin of the Ultra-high-energy Event KM3-230213A

Abstract

On 2023 February 13, the KM3NeT/ARCA telescope observed a track-like event compatible with a ultra-high-energy muon with an estimated energy of 120 PeV, produced by a neutrino with an even higher energy, making it the most energetic neutrino event ever detected. A diffuse cosmogenic component is expected to originate from the interactions of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays with ambient photon and matter fields. The flux level required by the KM3NeT/ARCA event is, however, in tension with the standard cosmogenic neutrino predictions based on the observations collected by the Pierre Auger Observatory and Telescope Array over the last decade of the ultra-high-energy cosmic rays above the ankle (hence from the local Universe, z  ≲ 1). We show here that both observations can be reconciled by extending the integration of the equivalent cosmogenic neutrino flux up to a redshift of z max = 6 and considering either source evolution effects or the presence of a subdominant independent proton component in the ultra-high-energy cosmic-ray flux, thus placing constraints on known cosmic accelerators.