Magnetic field effects on neutrino production in microquasars

TL;DR

This paper studies how magnetic fields influence neutrino production in microquasars, showing that synchrotron losses significantly modify neutrino emission and that detection prospects depend on environmental conditions.

Contribution

It provides a detailed calculation of particle distributions and neutrino fluxes considering energy losses, highlighting conditions for potential neutrino detection from microquasars.

Findings

Synchrotron losses reduce neutrino flux from the vicinity of the compact object.

Detection of high-energy neutrinos is challenging but possible in windy microquasars.

Neutrino production is enhanced at larger distances where secondary particles are less affected by magnetic fields.

Abstract

We investigate the effects of magnetic fields on neutrino production in microquasars. We calculate the steady particle distributions for the pions and muons generated in p-gamma and p-p interactions in the jet taking the effects of all energy losses into account. The obtained neutrino emission is significantly modified due to the synchrotron losses suffered by secondary pions and muons. The estimates made for neutrino fluxes arriving on the Earth imply that detection of high-energy neutrinos from the vicinity of the compact object can be difficult. However, in the case of windy microquasars, the interaction of energetic protons in the jet with matter of dense clumps of the wind could produce detectable neutrinos. This is because the pions and muons at larger distances from the compact object will not be affected by synchrotron losses.