The physical relationship between the far-infrared and radio fluxes of star forming galaxies has yet to be definitively determined. The favored interpretation, the "calorimeter model," requires that supernova generated cosmic ray (CR) electrons cool rapidly via synchrotron radiation. However, this cooling should steepen their radio spectra beyond what is observed, and so enhanced ionization losses at low energies from high gas densities are also required. Further, evaluating the minimum energy magnetic field strength with the traditional scaling of the synchrotron flux may underestimate the true value in massive starbursts if their magnetic energy density is comparable to the hydrostatic pressure of their disks. Gamma-ray spectra of starburst galaxies, combined with radio data, provide a less ambiguous estimate of these physical properties in starburst nuclei. While the radio flux is most sensitive to the magnetic field, the GeV gamma-ray spectrum normalization depends primarily on gas density. To this end, spectra above 100 MeV were constructed for two nearby starburst galaxies, NGC 253 and M82, using Fermi data. Their nuclear radio and far-infrared spectra from the literature are compared to new models of the steady-state CR distributions expected from starburst galaxies. Models with high magnetic fields, favoring galaxy calorimetry, are overall better fits to the observations. These solutions also imply relatively high densities and CR ionization rates, consistent with molecular cloud studies.
In nuclei of starburst galaxies, the combination of an enhanced rate of supernova explosions and a high gas density suggests that cosmic rays can be efficiently produced, and that most of them lose their energy before escaping these regions, resulting in a large flux of secondary products, including neutrinos. Although the flux inferred from an individual starburst region is expected to be well below the sensitivity of current neutrino telescopes, such sources may provide a substantial contribution to the diffuse neutrino flux measured by IceCube. Here we compute the gamma-ray and neutrino flu…
One attractive scenario for the excess of sub-PeV/PeV neutrinos recently reported by IceCube is that they are produced by cosmic rays in starburst galaxies colliding with the dense interstellar medium. These proton-proton ($pp$) collisions also produce high-energy gamma-rays, which finally contribute to the diffuse high-energy gamma-ray background. We calculate the diffuse gamma-ray flux with a semi-analytic approach and consider that the very high energy gamma-rays will be absorbed in the galaxies and converted into electron-position pairs, which then lose almost all their energy through sync…
Differential Sensitivity of the KM3NeT/ARCA detector to a diffuse neutrino flux and to point-like source emission: exploring the case of the Starburst Galaxies
Ultrahigh energy cosmic rays are the most energetic of any subatomic particles ever observed in nature. The quest for their mysterious origin is currently a major scientific challenge. Here we explore the possibility that these particles originate from nearby starburst galaxies, a scenario that matches the recent observation by the Telescope Array experiment of a cosmic-ray hotspot above 57~EeV not far from the direction of the starburst galaxy M82. Specifically, we study the stochastic propagation in space of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays through the state-of-the-art simulation framework CRPro…
[Abdriged] The origin of the diffuse hard X-ray (2 - 10 keV) emission from starburst galaxies is a long-standing problem. We suggest that synchrotron emission of 10 - 100 TeV electrons and positrons (e+/-) can contribute to this emission, because starbursts have strong magnetic fields. We consider three sources of e+/- at these energies: (1) primary electrons directly accelerated by supernova remnants; (2) pionic secondary e+/- created by inelastic collisions between CR protons and gas nuclei in the dense ISMs of starbursts; (3) pair e+/- produced between the interactions between 10 - 100 TeV …
Diffusion coefficients are usually used to describe the propagation of Cosmic Rays through the Universe. Whereas such transport parameters can be obtained from experiments in the Solar System, it is difficult to determine diffusion coefficients in the Milky Way or in external galaxies. Recently a value for the perpendicular diffusion coefficient in the nearby starburst halaxy NGC 253 has been proposed. In the present paper we reproduce this value theoretically by using an advanced analytical theory for perpendicular diffusion.
The enhanced star forming activity, typical of starburst galaxies, powers strong galactic winds expanding on kiloparsec (kpc) scales and characterized by bubble structures. Here we discuss the possibility that particle acceleration may take place at the termination shock of such winds. We calculate the spectrum of accelerated particles and their maximum energy, that turns out to range up to a few hundred petaelectronvolt (PeV) for typical values of the parameters. Cosmic rays accelerated at the termination shock are advected towards the edge of the bubble excavated by the wind and eventually e…
Star-forming galaxies have been predicted to contribute considerably to the diffuse gamma-ray background as they are guaranteed reservoirs of cosmic rays. Assuming that the hadronic interactions responsible for high-energy gamma rays also produce high-energy neutrinos and that O(100) PeV cosmic rays can be produced and confined in starburst galaxies, we here discuss the possibility that star-forming galaxies are also the main sources of the high-energy neutrinos observed by the IceCube experiment. First, we compute the diffuse gamma-ray background from star-forming galaxies, adopting the lates…
The arrival directions of cosmic rays detected by the Pierre Auger Observatory (Auger) with energies above 39~EeV were recently reported to correlate with the positions of 23 nearby starburst galaxies (SBGs): in their best-fit model, 9.7\% of the cosmic-ray flux originates from these objects and undergoes angular diffusion on a $12.9^\circ$~scale. On the other hand, some of the SBGs on their list, including the brightest one (M82), are at northern declinations outside the Auger field of view. Data from detectors in the northern hemisphere would be needed to look for cosmic-ray excesses near th…
Starburst galaxies represent one of the most plausible origins of the cosmic high-energy neutrino flux recently discovered by IceCube. At $\sim$ PeV energies, the neutrino flux from starburst galaxies is expected to exhibit a characteristic spectral break due to cosmic-rays escaping the galaxy. We examine the 'smearing' of this spectral break by a population of starburst galaxies with varying properties. We incorporate galaxy distribution w.r.t. star-formation rate and redshift. Our results (i) show characteristic spectral softening in IceCube's energy band; (ii) resolve the conflicting observ…
High energy gamma-ray emission from two nearby bright starburst galaxies, M82 and NGC 253, have recently been detected by Fermi, H.E.S.S., and VERITAS. Since starburst galaxies have a high star formation rate and plenty of dust in the central starburst region, infrared emissions are strong there. Gamma-ray photons are absorbed by the interstellar radiation field photons via electron and positron pair creation. The generated electron and positron pairs up scatter the interstellar photons to very high energy gamma-ray photons via cascade emission through inverse Compton scattering. In this paper…
We have monitored the Cassiopeia dwarf galaxy (IC 10) in a series of 10 Chandra ACIS-S observations to capture its variable and transient X-ray source population, which is expected to be dominated by High Mass X-ray Binaries (HMXBs). We present a sample of 21 X-ray sources that are variable between observations at the 3 sigma level, from a catalog of 110 unique point sources. We find 4 transients (flux variability ratio greater than 10) and a further 8 objects with ratio > 5. The observations span years 2003 - 2010 and reach a limiting luminosity of >10$^{35}$ erg/s, providing sensitivity to X…
In this paper we report the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) detection of the gamma-ray emission toward the young star forming region W43. Using the latest source catalog and diffuse background models, the extended gamma-ray excess is detected with a significance of about 16 $σ$. The gamma-ray emission has a spectrum with a photon index of $2.3 \pm 0.1$. We also performed a detailed analysis of the gas content in this region by taking into account the opacity correction to the HI gas column density. The total cosmic-ray (CR) proton energy is estimated to be on the order of $10^{48}\ \rm erg,$ …
We investigate the physical structure of the AGN wind in the Seyfert-1 galaxy NGC 7469 through high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy with Chandra HETGS and photoionisation modelling. Contemporaneous data from Chandra, HST, and Swift are used to model the optical-UV-X-ray continuum and determine the spectral energy distribution (SED) at two epochs, 13 years apart. For our investigation we use new observations taken in December 2015-January 2016, and historical ones taken in December 2002. We study the impact of a change in the SED shape, seen between the two epochs, on the photoionisation of the w…
We present a {\it Chandra} observation of IRAS 19254--7245, a nearby ULIRG also known as {\it the Superantennae}. The high spatial resolution of {\it Chandra} allows us to disentangle for the first time the diffuse starburst emission from the embedded Compton-thick AGN. The 2-10 keV spectrum of the AGN emission is fitted by a flat power-law $Γ=1.3$) and a He-like Fe K$α$ line with EW$\sim$1.5 keV, consistent with previous observations. The Fe K$α$ line profile could be resolved as a blend of a neutral 6.4 keV line and an ionized 6.7 keV (He-like) or 6.9 keV (H-like) line. Variability is detect…
NGC 253 is a nearby starburst galaxy in the Sculptor group located at a distance of 3.5 Mpc that has been suggested by some authors as a potential site for cosmic-ray acceleration up to ultra-high energies. Its nuclear region is heavily obscured by gas and dust, which prevents establishing whether or not the galaxy harbours a supermassive black hole coexisting with the starburst. Some sources have been proposed in the literature as candidates for an active nucleus. In this work, we aim at determining the implications that the presence of a supermassive black hole at the nucleus of NGC 253 migh…
We investigate how the extragalactic proton component derived within the "escape model" can be explained by astrophysical sources. We consider as possible cosmic ray (CR) sources normal/starburst galaxies and radio-loud active galactic nuclei (AGN). We find that the contribution to the total extragalactic proton flux from normal and starburst galaxies is only subdominant and does not fit the spectral shape deduced in the escape model. In the case of radio-loud AGN, we show that the complete extragalactic proton spectrum can be explained by a single source population, BL Lac/FR I, for any of th…
Star-forming and starburst galaxies, which are well-known cosmic-rays reservoirs, are expected to emit gamma-rays and neutrinos predominantly via hadronic collisions. In this Letter, we analyze the 10-year Fermi-LAT spectral energy distributions of 13 nearby galaxies by means of a physical model which accounts for high-energy proton transport in starburst nuclei and includes the contribution of primary and secondary electrons. In particular, we test the hypothesis that the observed gamma-ray fluxes are mostly due to star-forming activity, in agreement with the available star formation rates co…
As starburst galaxies show a star formation rate up to several hundred times larger than the one in a typical galaxy, the expected supernova rate is higher than average. This in turn implies a high rate of long gamma ray bursts (GRBs), which are extreme supernova events. We present a catalog of 127 local starburst galaxies with redshifts of z<0.03. Using this catalog we investigate the possibility of detecting neutrinos from Gamma Ray Bursts from nearby starburst galaxies. We show that the rate of long GRBs is correlated to the supernova rate which in turn is correlated to the far infrared out…
We propose an explanation for the far-infrared/radio correlation of galaxies in terms of the energy balance of the interstellar medium and determine the flux from high-energy photons and neutrinos from starburst galaxies. We present a catalog of the 127 brightest starburst galaxies with redshifts of z<0.03. In order to investigate the correlation between radio- and far-infrared emission, we apply the leaky box approximation. Further, we derive photon- and neutrino spectra from proton-proton interactions in supernova remnants (SNRs). Here, we assume that a fraction of the SNR's energy is transf…
The Pierre Auger Collaboration has provided a compelling indication for a possible correlation between the arrival directions of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays and nearby starburst galaxies. Herein we show how the latest large-scale modeling of starburst galaxies is compatible with the cosmic rays producing the anisotropy signal being accelerated at the terminal shock of superwinds.
Supermassive black holes are now thought to lie at the heart of every giant galaxy with a spheroidal component, including our own Milky Way. The birth and growth of the first 'seed' black holes in the earlier Universe, however, is observationally unconstrained and we are only beginning to piece together a scenario for their subsequent evolution. Here we report that the nearby dwarf starburst galaxy Henize 2-10 contains a compact radio source at the dynamical centre of the galaxy that is spatially coincident with a hard X-ray source. From these observations, we conclude that Henize 2-10 harbour…
A multi-wavelength study of nearby starburst galaxy M 82
Maharashtra Udayagiri Mahavidyalaya（马哈拉施特拉乌达吉里学院）；North-West University（西北大学）；Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathawada University（斯瓦米·拉马南德·特思马拉塔瓦达大学）；Physical Research Laboratory（物理研究实验室）；National Institute for Theoretical and Computational Sciences (NITheCS)（国家理论计算科学研究所）
A recent analysis of cosmic ray air showers observed at the Pierre Auger Observatory indicates that nearby starburst galaxies (SBGs) might be the cause of ~10% of the Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Ray flux at energies E > 39 EeV. Since high energy neutrinos are a direct product of cosmic ray interactions, we investigate SBGs as a possible source of some of the ~ 10^-2 - 1 PeV neutrinos observed at IceCube. A statistical analysis is performed to establish the degree of positional correlation between the observed neutrinos and a set of 45 nearby radio- and infrared-bright SBGs. Our results are consis…
The gamma-ray emission from Starburst and Starforming Galaxies (SBGs and SFGs) strongly suggest a correlation between star-forming activity and gamma-ray luminosity. However, the very nature of cosmic-ray (CR) transport and the degree of their confinement within SBG cores are still open questions. We aim at probing the imprints left by CR transport on gamma-ray and neutrino observations of point-like SFGs and SBGs, looking into quantitative ways to discriminate among different transport models. Moreover, following the reported scenarios, we quantitatively assess the SBGs and SFGs contribution …
Auger data show evidence for a correlation between ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) and nearby starburst galaxies. This intriguing correlation is consistent with data collected by the Telescope Array, which have revealed a much more pronounced directional ``hot spot'' in arrival directions not far from the starburst galaxy M82. In this work, we assume starbursts are sources of UHECRs and investigate the prospects to use the observed distribution of UHECR arrival directions to constrain Galactic magnetic field models. We show that if the Telescope Array hot spot indeed originates from M82,…
Very recently, the Pierre Auger Collaboration reported a $4.5σ$ correlation between the arrival directions of the highest energy cosmic rays and nearby starburst galaxies. The cosmic rays producing the anisotropy signal have been proposed to originate in low-luminosity gamma-ray bursts (llGRBs). On the basis of the well-justified assumption that at redshift $z<0.3$ the host metallicity is a good indicator of the llGRB production rate, we show that the association of llGRBs and the starbursts correlating with Auger data is excluded at the 90% confidence level.
X-ray measurements of the elemental abundances for the diffuse emission in the nuclear starburst galaxy NGC 3079
Tsinghua University（清华大学）；Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院紫金山天文台）；University of Science and Technology of China（中国科学技术大学）；University of Michigan（密歇根大学）
利用 XMM-Newton 光谱研究 NGC 3079 的弥散 X 射线发射，通过元素丰度诊断反馈化学增丰，发现核区有电荷交换分量，并推断出前身星质量上限及间歇性反馈特征。
