Modeling the non-flaring VHE emission from M87 as detected by the HAWC gamma ray observatory

TL;DR

This paper models the non-flaring very high energy gamma-ray emission from M87 using HAWC data, fitting a lepto-hadronic scenario to understand its complex emission mechanisms.

Contribution

It introduces a lepto-hadronic model fitted to HAWC observations to explain M87's non-flaring VHE gamma-ray emission, addressing uncertainties in its physical origin.

Findings

Lepto-hadronic model successfully fits the broadband spectral energy distribution.

HAWC data constrains the average VHE emission of M87.

Model provides insights into the emission mechanisms of non-flaring states.

Abstract

M87 is a giant radio galaxy located in the Virgo Cluster, known to be a very high energy (VHE) gamma-ray source. As radio galaxies are considered the misaligned low-redshift counterparts of blazars, they are excellent laboratories for testing AGN emission models. M87 has been detected and monitored by Fermi-LAT and several atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes. Recently, the HAWC Collaboration presented marginal evidence of 4.5 year TeV gamma-ray emission from this object. The HAWC data has the potential to constrain the average VHE emission of sources of complex behavior, like M87, for which the physical origin of the VHE gamma-ray emission is still uncertain. We fitted a lepto-hadronic scenario to the broadband spectral energy distribution of M87 to model its non-flaring VHE emission using HAWC data.