Possible correlation between unabsorbed hard x rays and neutrinos in radio-loud and radio-quiet active galactic nuclei
Journal article, 2024
The first high-energy neutrino source identified by IceCube was a blazar - an active galactic nucleus driving a relativistic jet toward Earth. Jets driven by accreting black holes are commonly assumed to be needed for high-energy neutrino production. Recently, IceCube discovered neutrinos from Seyfert galaxies, which appears unrelated to jet activity. Here, we show that the observed luminosity ratios of neutrinos and hard x rays from blazars TXS0506+056 and GB6J1542+6129 are consistent with neutrino production in a γ-obscured region near a central supermassive black hole, with the x-ray flux corresponding to reprocessed γ-ray emission with flux comparable to that of neutrinos. Similar neutrino-hard x-ray flux ratios are found for four Seyfert galaxies, NGC 1068, NGC 4151, CGCG 420-015, and NGC 3079, raising the possibility of a common neutrino production mechanism that may not involve a strong jet.
Author
Emma Kun
Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Imre Bartos
University of Florida
Julia Tjus
Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Astronomy and Plasmaphysics
Peter L. Biermann
Max Planck Society
University of Alabama
A. Franckowiak
Ruhr-Universität Bochum
F. Halzen
University of Wisconsin Madison
Santiago Del Palacio
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Astronomy and Plasmaphysics
Jooyun Woo
Columbia University
Physical Review D
2470-0010 (ISSN) 2470-0029 (eISSN)
Vol. 110 12 123014Exploring the Hidden Dusty Nuclei of Galaxies (HIDDeN)
European Research Council (ERC) (789410), 2018-10-01 -- 2023-09-30.
Subject Categories (SSIF 2011)
Subatomic Physics
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
DOI
10.1103/PhysRevD.110.123014