Hadronic flares and associated neutrinos for Markarian 421

TL;DR

This paper explores whether hadronic processes contribute to the very high energy flares of Markarian 421 and estimates the associated neutrino flux to assess detectability with neutrino telescopes.

Contribution

It introduces a method to estimate the neutrino flux from hadronic processes in Mrk 421's VHE flares and simulates detection prospects with a Cherenkov neutrino telescope.

Findings

Neutrino flux estimates suggest potential detectability.

Hadronic processes could contribute to VHE flares.

Simulation results inform neutrino telescope observations.

Abstract

Markarian 421 (Mrk 421) is one of the brightest, fastest and closest BL Lac object known. Its very high energy (VHE) spectrum has been successfully modeled with both leptonic and hadronic models and not conclusive results have been achieved yet about the origin of its VHE emission. Here we investigate the possibility that a fraction of the VHE flares of Mrk 421 are due to hadronic processes and calculate the expected neutrino flux associated. We introduce the obtained neutrino flux in a Monte Carlo simulation to see the expectation for a Km$^{3}$ Cherenkov neutrino telescope.