Speaker
Prof.
Markus Boettcher
(North-West University)
Description
We present a systematic study of the feasibility of photo-hadronic
production of IceCube neutrinos in the jet of the BL Lac object
TXS 0506+056 during the extended 2014 - 2015 neutrino flare. Starting
with the measured neutrino flux and spectrum, we study the effect of
electromagnetic cascades initiated by pion decay, necessarily
accompanying neutrino production. Depending on the relative energy
densities of the co-moving target photon fields and the magnetic
field, these cascades can either be synchrotron or Compton dominated.
We find that the synchrotron-dominated case can be ruled out by
existing observational constraints from TXS 0506+056, while in the
case of Compton dominated cascades, the opacity of the emission region
to gamma-gamma absorption is so high that any emanating gamma-ray flux
is expected to be far below the observed Fermi spectrum. A further
study of possible target photons for such a scenario indicates that
it requires a UV - X-ray target photon field that is stationary in the
rest frame of the AGN.
Primary author
Prof.
Markus Boettcher
(North-West University)
Co-authors
Dr
Anita Reimer
(University of Innsbruck)
Sara Buson
(PD)
