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Title: Disentangling Hadronic and Leptonic Cascade Scenarios from the Very-High-Energy Gamma-Ray Emission of Distant Hard-Spectrum Blazars

Journal Article · · The Astrophysical Journal. Letters
 [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. Institute of Particle and Nuclear Studies (Japan)
  2. Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ (United States)
  3. U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC (United States). Code 7653, Space Science Division
+ Show Author Affiliations

We show that recent data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope have revealed about a dozen distant hard-spectrum blazars that have very-high-energy (VHE; ≳ 100 eV) photons associated with them, but most of them have not yet been detected by imaging atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes. Most of these high-energy gamma-ray spectra, like those of other extreme high-frequency peaked BL Lac objects, can be well explained either by gamma rays emitted at the source or by cascades induced by ultra-high-energy cosmic rays, as we show specifically for KUV 00311–1938. We consider the prospects for detection of the VHE sources by the planned Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) and show how it can distinguish the two scenarios by measuring the integrated flux above ~500 GeV (depending on source redshift) for several luminous sources with z ≲ 1 in the sample. Strong evidence for the origin of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays could be obtained from VHE observations with CTA. Depending on redshift, if the often quoted redshift of KUV 00311–1938 (z = 0.61) is believed, then preliminary H.E.S.S. data favor cascades induced by ultra-high-energy cosmic rays. Lastly, accurate redshift measurements of hard-spectrum blazars are essential for this study.

Research Organization:
SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Contributing Organization:
Fermi-LAT Collaboration
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-76SF00515
OSTI ID:
1356587
Journal Information:
The Astrophysical Journal. Letters, Vol. 771, Issue 2; ISSN 2041-8205
Publisher:
Institute of Physics (IOP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 27 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (6)

Open Questions in Cosmic-Ray Research at Ultrahigh Energies journal June 2019
Putting the hadron beam scenario for extreme blazars to the test with the Cherenkov Telescope Array journal October 2018
Ultrahigh-energy Cosmic-Ray Interactions as the Origin of Very High-energy γ -Rays from BL Lacertae Objects journal February 2020
Open Questions in Cosmic-Ray Research at Ultrahigh Energies text January 2019
Open Questions in Cosmic-Ray Research at Ultrahigh Energies text January 2019
Baryon Loading Efficiency and Particle Acceleration Efficiency of Relativistic Jets: Cases For Low Luminosity BL Lacs text January 2016

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Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
cosmic rays
gamma rays: galaxies
methods: numerical
radiation mechanisms: non-thermal