Disentangling Hadronic and Leptonic Cascade Scenarios from the Very-High-Energy Gamma-Ray Emission of Distant Hard-Spectrum Blazars
Abstract
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.
- Authors:
-
- Institute of Particle and Nuclear Studies (Japan)
- Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ (United States)
- U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC (United States). Code 7653, Space Science Division
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE
- Contributing Org.:
- Fermi-LAT Collaboration
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1356587
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-76SF00515
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- The Astrophysical Journal. Letters
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 771; Journal Issue: 2; Journal ID: ISSN 2041-8205
- Publisher:
- Institute of Physics (IOP)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; cosmic rays; gamma rays: galaxies; methods: numerical; radiation mechanisms: non-thermal
Citation Formats
Takami, Hajime, Murase, Kohta, and Dermer, Charles D. Disentangling Hadronic and Leptonic Cascade Scenarios from the Very-High-Energy Gamma-Ray Emission of Distant Hard-Spectrum Blazars. United States: N. p., 2013.
Web. doi:10.1088/2041-8205/771/2/L32.
Takami, Hajime, Murase, Kohta, & Dermer, Charles D. Disentangling Hadronic and Leptonic Cascade Scenarios from the Very-High-Energy Gamma-Ray Emission of Distant Hard-Spectrum Blazars. United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/771/2/L32
Takami, Hajime, Murase, Kohta, and Dermer, Charles D. Wed .
"Disentangling Hadronic and Leptonic Cascade Scenarios from the Very-High-Energy Gamma-Ray Emission of Distant Hard-Spectrum Blazars". United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/771/2/L32. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1356587.
@article{osti_1356587,
title = {Disentangling Hadronic and Leptonic Cascade Scenarios from the Very-High-Energy Gamma-Ray Emission of Distant Hard-Spectrum Blazars},
author = {Takami, Hajime and Murase, Kohta and Dermer, Charles D.},
abstractNote = {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.},
doi = {10.1088/2041-8205/771/2/L32},
journal = {The Astrophysical Journal. Letters},
number = 2,
volume = 771,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Jun 26 00:00:00 EDT 2013},
month = {Wed Jun 26 00:00:00 EDT 2013}
}
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