Synchrotron emission from secondary leptons in microquasar jets

TL;DR

This paper models synchrotron radio emission in microquasar jets caused by secondary leptons from proton-proton collisions, exploring spectral energy distributions and implications for jet composition and emission mechanisms.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive model for secondary leptonic synchrotron emission in microquasars, accounting for energy losses and providing spectral predictions.

Findings

Secondary leptonic emission can significantly contribute to radio flux in microquasars.

Spectral energy distributions depend on jet and stellar wind parameters.

Observations can test the presence of secondary leptons and jet matter composition.

Abstract

We present a model to estimate the synchrotron radio emission generated in microquasar (MQ) jets due to secondary pairs created via decay of charged pions produced in proton-proton collisions between stellar wind ions and jet relativistic protons. Signatures of electrons/positrons are obtained from consistent particle energy distributions that take into account energy losses due to synchrotron and inverse Compton (IC) processes, as well as adiabatic expansion. The space parameter for the model is explored and the corresponding spectral energy distributions (SEDs) are presented. We conclude that secondary leptonic emission represents a significant though hardly dominant contribution to the total radio emission in MQs, with observational consequences that can be used to test some still unknown processes occurring in these objects as well as the nature of the matter outflowing in their jets.