Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
1998-01-31
Astrophys.J. 510 (1999) 188
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
14 pages,3 figures, latex, submitted to ApJ
Scientific paper
10.1086/306555
We consider, herein, a model for gamma-ray production in blazars in which a relativistic, highly-collimated electron-proton beam interacts with a dense, compact cloud as the jet propagates through the broad and perhaps narrow line regions (BLR and NLR) of active galactic nuclei (AGN). During the propagation of the beam through the cloud, the process of excitation of plasma waves becomes an important energy loss mechanism, especially for mildly relativistic proton beams. We compute the expected spectra of gamma-rays from the decay of neutral pions produced in hadronic collisions of the beam with the cloud, taking into account collisionless losses of the electron-proton beam. This model may explain the X-ray and TeV gamma-ray (both low and high emission states) of Mrk 421 as a result of synchrotron emission of secondary pairs from the decay of charged pions and gamma-ray emission from the decay of neutral pions for the plausible cloud parameters. However clouds can not be too hot and too dense. Otherwise the TeV gamma-rays can be attenuated by the bremsstrahlung radiation in the cloud and the secondary pairs are not able to efficiently produce synchrotron flares because of the dominant role of inverse Compton scattering. The non-variable $\gamma$-ray emission observed from Mrk 421 in the EGRET energy range cannot be described by the $\gamma$-rays from decay of neutral pions provided that the spectrum of protons in the beam is well described by a simple power law. These $\gamma$-rays might only be produced by secondary pairs scattering the soft non-variable X-rays which might originate in the inner part of the accretion disk.
Beall J. H.
Bednarek Wlodek
No associations
LandOfFree
On the Hadronic Beam Model for Gamma-ray Production in Blazars does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with On the Hadronic Beam Model for Gamma-ray Production in Blazars, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and On the Hadronic Beam Model for Gamma-ray Production in Blazars will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-554432