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Register a new userTeV gamma-rays from UHECR interactions in AGN cores: Lessons from Centaurus A
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Added by
Michael Kachelrie{\\ss}
Publication date
2010
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
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TeV gamma-rays have been observed from blazars as well as from radio galaxies like M87 and Cen A. In leptonic models, gamma-rays above the pair production threshold can escape from the ultra-relativistic jet, since large Lorentz factors reduce the background photon densities compared to those required for isotropic emission. Here we discuss an alternative scenario, where VHE photons are generated as secondaries from UHECR interaction in the AGN core. We show that TeV gamma-rays can escape from the core despite large IR and UV backgrounds. For the special case of Cen A, we study if the various existing observations from the far infra-red to the UHE range can be reconciled within this picture.
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In the light of the recently predicted isotopic composition of the kpc-scale jet in Centaurus A, we re-investigate whether this source could be responsible for some of the ultra-high energy cosmic rays detected by the Pierre Auger Observatory. We find that a nearby source like Centaurus A is well motivated by the composition and spectral shape, and that such sources should start to dominate the flux above ~ 4 EeV. The best-fitting isotopes from our modelling, with the maximum 56Fe energy fixed at 250 EeV, are of intermediate mass, 12C to 16O, while the best-fitting particle index is 2.3.
We report the discovery of faint very high energy (VHE, E > 100 GeV) gamma-ray emission from the radio galaxy Centaurus A in deep observations performed with the H.E.S.S. experiment. A signal with a statistical significance of 5.0 sigma is detected from the region including the radio core and the inner kpc jets. The integral flux above an energy threshold of ~250 GeV is measured to be 0.8% of the flux of the Crab Nebula and the spectrum can be described by a power law with a photon index of 2.7 +/- 0.5_stat +/- 0.2_sys. No significant flux variability is detected in the data set. The discovery of VHE gamma-ray emission from Centaurus A reveals particle acceleration in the source to >TeV energies and, together with M 87, establishes radio galaxies as a class of VHE emitters.
The INTEGRAL mission provides a large data set for studying the hard X-ray properties of AGN and allows to test the unified scheme for AGN. We present results based on the analysis of 199 AGN. A difference between the Seyfert types is detected in slightly flatter spectra with higher cut-off energies and lower luminosities for the more absorbed/type 2 AGN. When applying a Compton reflection model, the underlying continua (photon index 1.95) appear the same in Seyfert 1 and 2, and the reflection strength is R=1 in both cases, with differences in the inclination angle only. A difference is seen in the sense that Seyfert 1 are on average twice as luminous in hard X-rays than the Seyfert 2 galaxies. The unified model for Seyfert galaxies seems to hold, showing in hard X-rays that the central engine is the same in Seyfert 1 and 2 galaxies, seen under different inclination angle and absorption. Based on our knowledge of AGN from INTEGRAL data, we briefly outline open questions and investigations to answer them. In this context an ultra-deep (>= 12 Ms) extragalactic field can be a true legacy of the INTEGRAL mission in the area of AGN studies.
The nearest active radio galaxy Centaurus (Cen) A is a gamma-ray emitter in GeV to TeV energy scale. The High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) and non-simultaneous Fermi-LAT observation indicate an unusual spectral hardening above few GeV energies in the gamma-ray spectrum of Cen A. Very recently the H.E.S.S. observatory resolved the kilo parsec (kpc)-scale jets in Centaurus A at TeV energies. On the other hand, the Pierre Auger Observatory (PAO) detects a few ultra high energy cosmic ray (UHECR) events from Cen-A. The proton blazar inspired model, which considers acceleration of both electrons and hadronic cosmic rays in AGN jet, can explain the observed coincident high energy neutrinos and gamma rays from Ice-cube detected AGN jets. Here we have employed the proton blazar inspired model to explain the observed GeV to TeV gamma-ray spectrum features including the spectrum hardening at GeV energies along with the PAO observation on cosmic rays from Cen-A. Our findings suggest that the model can explain consistently the observed electromagnetic spectrum in combination with the appropriate number of UHECRs from Cen A.
The detection of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos and ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) provides a new way to explore sources of cosmic rays. One of the highest energy neutrino events detected by IceCube, tagged as IC35, is close to the UHECR anisotropy region detected by Pierre Auger Observatory. The nearby starburst galaxy (SBG), NGC 4945, is close to this anisotropic region and inside the mean angular error of the IC35 event. Considering the hypernovae contribution located in the SB region of NGC 4945, which can accelerate protons up to $sim 10^{17} , {rm eV}$ and inject them into the interstellar medium, we investigate the origin of this event around this starburst galaxy. We show that the interaction of these protons with the SB regions gas density could explain Fermi-LAT gamma-ray and radio observations if the magnetic fields strength in the SB region is the order of $sim rm mG$. Our estimated PeV neutrino events, in ten years, for this source is approximately 0.01 ($4times10^{-4}$) if a proton spectral index of 2.4 (2.7) is considered, which would demonstrate that IC35 is not produced in the central region of this SBG. Additionally, we consider the superwind region of NGC 4945 and show that protons can hardly be accelerated in it up to UHEs.
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