A lepto-hadronic model of gamma-ray signal from extreme blazars

Saikat Das, Nayantara Gupta, Soebur Razzaque

Research output: Contribution to journalConference articlepeer-review

Abstract

The unattenuated TeV γ-ray spectrum observed in some blazars is inconsistent with the γγ absorption by seed photons in the relativistic jet or the extragalactic background light (EBL) during extragalactic propagation. In addition, the efficiency of inverse-Compton emission is suppressed at such high energies. Ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs; E & 1017 eV) accelerated in blazar jets can escape from their sources and interact with the cosmic background photons. The resultant e± and γ-rays can induce electromagnetic cascade resulting in a photon spectrum peaking at ∼ 1 TeV energies. We propose that the line-of-sight component can be observed as coming from their respective sources. We consider a random turbulent extragalactic magnetic field to constrain the survival fraction of UHECRs along the observer’s line of sight. A one-zone leptonic model is used to fit the synchrotron spectrum of the blazars. The higher-energy peak is explained by a combination of synchrotron self-Compton spectrum produced by the same relativistic electrons and the γ-rays from line-of-sight UHECR interactions. Overall, the lepto-hadronic model better explains the multiwavelength spectral energy distribution (SED). We also calculate the line-of-sight neutrino flux from these blazars corresponding to the luminosity required in γ-rays. We discuss the prospects of UHECR detection from these resolved sources.

Original languageEnglish
Article number1002
JournalProceedings of Science
Volume395
Publication statusPublished - 18 Mar 2022
Event37th International Cosmic Ray Conference, ICRC 2021 - Virtual, Berlin, Germany
Duration: 12 Jul 202123 Jul 2021

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Multidisciplinary

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