Several candidate neutrino sources manifest variable electromagnetic emission, often with burst-like behaviour. It is interesting to consider that the neutrino emission from such sources could have similar time character. In the context of the so called multi-messenger approach, information from high energy neutrinos and different electromagnetic wavelengths (e.g., high gamma-rays) is combined, we present a method to search for clusters of neutrinos from pre-defined directions. The time structures we searched for must indicate an occasional deviation from the background hypothesis while not contradicting observations from time-integrated searches. We report recent developments of this method, a study of the background rate over short time scales, and novel results obtained from recent AMANDA data (year 2004 and later). We also discuss the perspectives for IceCube.

AMANDA/IceCube

Proceedings of the 30th International Cosmic Ray Conference; Rogelio Caballero, Juan Carlos D'Olivo, Gustavo Medina-Tanco, Lukas Nellen, Federico A. Sánchez, José F. Valdés-Galicia (eds.); Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico, 2008; Vol. 5 (HE part 2), pages 1353-1356