arXivDaily arXiv每日学术速递 周一至周五更新
arXiv 1409.4401astro-ph.HEhep-ph
收藏

来自PKS 1222+216的类轴子粒子的线索?

Hints for an axion-like particle from PKS 1222+216?

Giorgio Galanti, Marco Roncadelli, Fabrizio Tavecchio, Giacomo Bonnoli

摘要:

平谱射电类星体(Flat spectrum radio quasar,FSRQ)是一类特殊的耀变体,在宽线区(broad line region,BLR)内富含可见光/紫外光子,这必然意味着$γ$射线在20 GeV以上具有巨大的光学厚度。因此,不应发射能量高于此阈值的光子。然而,MAGIC从FSRQ PKS 1222+216观测到了能量范围在70 - 400 GeV的光子。在文献中有几种天体物理学的解释,但它们都是特别的,即只为特定目的而设计的。我们表明,这样一个令人惊讶的发现可以解释标准blazar模型中增加了新的可能性,光子振荡成轴子样粒子(ALP),反之亦然的源内。通过光子-ALP振荡机制,相当大一部分甚高能量(VHE)光子可以以类似的方式逃离BLR的吸收,因为它们在很大程度上避免了星系际空间中河外背景光(EBL)的吸收。实际上,我们不仅证明了VHE光子确实发射,而且它们的光谱能量分布(SED)是这样的,它们位于同一个康普顿峰上,费米/LAT同时探测到的低能光子也属于该峰。

英文摘要:

Flat spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) are a particular class of blazars rich of optical/ultraviolet photons inside the broad line region (BLR), necessarily implying a huge optical depth for $γ$ rays above 20 GeV. As a consequence, photons with energy above such a threshold should not be emitted. However, photons in the energy range 70 - 400 GeV have been observed by MAGIC from the FSRQ PKS 1222+216. Several astrophysical explanations exist in the literature, but they are all ad hoc, namely devised only for that specific purpose. We show that such a surprising discovery can be explained within standard blazar models by adding the new possibility that photons oscillate into axion-like particles (ALPs) and vice-versa inside the source. Through the photon-ALP oscillation mechanism a sizable fraction of very-high energy (VHE) photons can escape absorption from the BLR in a similar fashion as they largely avoid absorption from the extragalactic background light (EBL) in the intergalactic space. Actually, we show that not only are VHE photon indeed emitted, but also that their spectral energy distribution (SED) is such that they lie on the same Compton peak to which also lower energy photons simultaneously detected by Fermi/LAT belong.

机构、总结、中文摘要均由AI分析而来,可能存在错误,请以论文正文为准。

↑