Hadronic processes as origin of TeV emission in Fanaroff-Riley Class I: Cen A, M87 and NGC1275

TL;DR

This paper proposes a hadronic model where TeV gamma-ray emissions from Fanaroff-Riley Class I AGNs are explained by neutral pion decay resulting from proton-photon and proton-proton interactions, challenging leptonic origin assumptions.

Contribution

It introduces a hadronic model for TeV emission in FR I galaxies, linking gamma-ray production to pion decay from proton interactions with photons and thermal particles.

Findings

The model successfully fits the TeV spectra of NGC 1275, M87, and Cen A.

Hadronic interactions can account for VHE gamma-ray emissions in these galaxies.

The approach provides an alternative to leptonic models for AGN gamma-ray production.

Abstract

Recent detections of Fanaroff-Riley Class I AGNs by HESS, MAGIC, and VERITAS suggest that very-high-energy gamma-rays (VHE, E > 100 GeV) may not have a leptonic origin. We present a hadronic model to describe the TeV photons as the neutral pion decay resulting from pgamma and pp interactions. For the pgamma interaction, we assume that the target photons are produced by leptonic processes and apparent at the second spectral peak. For the pp interaction we consider as targets the thermal particle densities in the lobes. We show that this model can describe the TeV spectra of the radio galaxies NCG 1275, M87 and Cen A