High Energy Radiation from Black Holes: A Summary

TL;DR

This paper summarizes the theoretical framework and observational evidence linking black holes to high-energy phenomena like gamma-ray flares, cosmic rays, and neutrinos, highlighting their roles as cosmic accelerators.

Contribution

It develops a mathematical framework to analyze gamma-ray sources, cosmic-ray acceleration, and energy extraction mechanisms from black holes, advancing understanding of high-energy astrophysical processes.

Findings

Black holes can explain gamma-ray flares and cosmic-ray origins.

The Blandford-Znajek mechanism may account for differences in active galactic nuclei.

Evidence supports black holes as sources of ultra-high energy cosmic rays.

Abstract

Bright gamma-ray flares observed from sources far beyond our Galaxy are best explained if enormous amounts of energy are liberated by black holes. The highest-energy particles in nature--the ultra-high energy cosmic rays--cannot be confined by the Milky Way's magnetic field, and must originate from sources outside our Galaxy. Here we summarize the themes of our book, "High Energy Radiation from Black Holes: Gamma Rays, Cosmic Rays, and Neutrinos", just published by Princeton University Press. In this book, we develop a mathematical framework that can be used to help establish the nature of gamma-ray sources, to evaluate evidence for cosmic-ray acceleration in blazars, GRBs and microquasars, to decide whether black holes accelerate the ultra-high energy cosmic rays, and to determine whether the Blandford-Znajek mechanism for energy extraction from rotating black holes can explain the differences between gamma-ray blazars and radio-quiet AGNs.