BLAZAR HALOS AS PROBE FOR EXTRAGALACTIC MAGNETIC FIELDS AND MAXIMAL ACCELERATION ENERGY

Journal Article · Sun Sep 20 00:00:00 EDT 2009 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/703/1/1078· OSTI ID:21371926

Dolag, K ^[1]; Kachelriess, M; Ostapchenko, S ^[2]; Tomas, R ^[3]

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1. Max-Planck-Institut fuer Astrophysik, Garching (Germany)
2. Institutt for fysikk, NTNU, Trondheim (Norway)
3. II. Institut fuer theoretische Physik, Universitaet Hamburg, Luruper Chaussee 149, D-22761 Hamburg (Germany)

High-energy photons from blazars interact within tens of kpc with the extragalactic photon background, initiating electromagnetic pair cascades. The charged component of such cascades is deflected by extragalactic magnetic fields (EGMFs), leading to halos even around initially point-like sources. We calculate the intensity profile of the resulting secondary high-energy photons for different assumptions on the initial source spectrum and the strength of the EGMF, employing also fields found earlier in a constrained simulation of structure formation including magnetohydrodynamics processes. We find that the observation of halos around blazars like Mrk 180 probes an interesting range of EGMF strengths and acceleration models: in particular, blazar halos test if the photon energy spectrum at the source extends beyond {approx}100 TeV and how anisotropic this high-energy component is emitted.

• OSTI ID: 21371926
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 703, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/703/1/1078; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ACCELERATION
ANISOTROPY
ENERGY SPECTRA
GALAXIES
GAMMA RADIATION
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
PHOTONS
SIMULATION
TEV RANGE 100-1000
BOSONS
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
ENERGY RANGE
FLUID MECHANICS
HYDRODYNAMICS
IONIZING RADIATIONS
MASSLESS PARTICLES
MECHANICS
RADIATIONS
SPECTRA
TEV RANGE