Leptonic originated High energy neutrinos from astrophysical objects

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that high-energy neutrinos can originate from energetic electrons via electromagnetic processes in astrophysical sources, challenging the traditional hadronic origin assumption and emphasizing the importance of combined gamma-ray and neutrino observations.

Contribution

It introduces a novel leptonic mechanism for high-energy neutrino production, expanding the understanding of neutrino origins in astrophysical environments.

Findings

Electrons can produce TeV neutrinos through electromagnetic interactions.

Neutrino fluxes from leptonic processes can match hadronic predictions.

Joint gamma-ray and neutrino observations are crucial for source discrimination.

Abstract

High-energy neutrinos are traditionally regarded as unambiguous signatures of hadronic cosmic rays in astrophysical environments. Here we show that TeV neutrinos can instead be produced by energetic electrons through purely electromagnetic processes in a variety of potential cosmic-ray accelerators. The resulting fluxes are comparable to those expected from hadronic interactions, suggesting that electrons may contribute a significant fraction of the neutrinos detected by the IceCube Observatory. These findings challenge the conventional interpretation of neutrino origins and underscore the need for joint gamma-ray and neutrino observations over a broad energy range to discriminate between hadronic and leptonic production mechanisms.