Characterising Candidate Blazar Counterparts of the Ultra-High-Energy Event KM3-230213A

KM3NeT Collaboration; MessMapp Group; Fermi-LAT Collaboration; Owens Valley Radio Observatory 40-m Telescope Group; SVOM Collaboration; Baldini P.; Buchner J.; Erkenov A. K.; Globus N.; Merloni A.; Paggi A.; Popkov A. V.; Porquet D.; Salvato M.; Sotnikova Y. V.; Voitsik P. A.

The KM3NeT experiment reported the detection of an ultra-high-energy neutrino with an energy estimate of ~ 220 PeV, the most energetic yet observed. The neutrino arrival direction has a 99% confidence region of 3{\deg} radius centred at RA 94.3{\deg}, Dec -7.8{\deg} (J2000). High-energy astrophysical neutrinos are a crucial messenger for understanding hadronic acceleration processes in the Universe and for identifying the origin of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays. Among the most powerful cosmic accelerators, blazars are proposed as promising neutrino sources. A sample of seventeen candidate blazars located in this region is selected through their multiwavelength properties, and studied using archival data and dedicated observations. One of the candidate counterparts exhibits a radio flare coinciding with the neutrino arrival time, with a pre-trial chance probability of 0.26%. Another candidate counterpart exhibits a rising trend in the X-ray flux in a one-year window around the neutrino arrival time. A third candidate undergoes a gamma-ray flare during the same period. While none of these candidates can conclusively be linked to the neutrino, the implications of a possible blazar origin for the KM3NeT event are discussed.