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arXiv 1206.6715astro-ph.HEhep-ph
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TeV伽马射线从耀变体超过z=1?

TeV gamma rays from blazars beyond z=1?

Felix Aharonian, Warren Essey, Alexander Kusenko, Anton Prosekin

摘要:

在TeV能量下,宇宙的伽马射线视界仅限于红移z<<1,因此,任何来自z=1以外的源的TeV辐射的观测都需要修改标准范式。虽然目前还缺乏红移z>1的TeV源的强有力的观测证据,但红移z~0.5的TeV耀变体的数量越来越多,这表明标准耀变体模型可能必须重新考虑。我们表明,TeV的伽马射线可以观察到,即使从源在z>1,如果所观察到的伽马射线是二次光子产生的高能质子的相互作用,从耀变体喷流和传播宇宙学距离几乎直线。这种机制最初被认为是从红移z~0.2的耀变体观测到的TeV伽马射线的一种可能的解释,而其他一些解释也是可能的。对于从z>1的耀变体中探测到的TeV伽马射线辐射,这个模型将提供与传统物理学一致的唯一可行的解释。它还将产生深远的天文学和宇宙学影响。特别是,这种解释意味着沿着视线的河外磁场非常弱,在0.01 < fG < 10 fG的范围内,假设随机场的相关长度为1 Mpc,并且在活动星系核喷流中E> 0.1 EeV的质子加速可能非常有效。

英文摘要:

At TeV energies, the gamma-ray horizon of the universe is limited to redshifts z<<1, and, therefore, any observation of TeV radiation from a source located beyond z=1 would call for a revision of the standard paradigm. While robust observational evidence for TeV sources at redshifts z>1 is lacking at present, the growing number of TeV blazars with redshifts as large as z~0.5 suggests the possibility that the standard blazar models may have to be reconsidered. We show that TeV gamma rays can be observed even from a source at z>1, if the observed gamma rays are secondary photons produced in interactions of high-energy protons originating from the blazar jet and propagating over cosmological distances almost rectilinearly. This mechanism was initially proposed as a possible explanation for the TeV gamma rays observed from blazars with redshifts z~0.2, for which some other explanations were possible. For TeV gamma-ray radiation detected from a blazar with z>1, this model would provide the only viable interpretation consistent with conventional physics. It would also have far-reaching astronomical and cosmological ramifications. In particular, this interpretation would imply that extragalactic magnetic fields along the line of sight are very weak, in the range 0.01 < fG < 10 fG, assuming random fields with a correlation length of 1 Mpc, and that acceleration of E> 0.1 EeV protons in the jets of active galactic nuclei can be very effective.

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