Exploring the Emission Mechanisms of Mrk 180 with long term X-ray and $\gamma$-ray data

TL;DR

This study analyzes 12.8 years of gamma-ray and multi-wavelength data of Mrk 180 to understand its emission mechanisms and assess its potential as a source of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays, finding it unlikely to contribute to the TA hotspot.

Contribution

The paper models Mrk 180's spectral energy distribution with leptonic and lepto-hadronic scenarios and evaluates its capability to produce UHECRs, providing new insights into its emission physics and cosmic ray origin.

Findings

No significant gamma-ray flux enhancement detected over 12.8 years.

Spectral modeling favors leptonic or lepto-hadronic emission scenarios.

Mrk 180 unlikely to be a source of UHECRs contributing to the TA hotspot.

Abstract

Markarian (Mrk) 180 is a BL Lacertae (BL Lac) object located at a redshift of 0.045 and a potential candidate for high-energy cosmic ray acceleration. We have analyzed the Fermi Large Area Telescope (\textit{Fermi}-LAT) $\gamma$-ray data of Mrk 180 collected over a period of 12.8 years and found no significant enhancement in the flux from the long-term $\gamma$-ray light curve. We have also analyzed Swift X-ray, ultraviolet \& optical, and X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission (XMM-Newton) data to construct the multi-wavelength spectral energy distribution (SED). The SED has been modeled with one-zone pure leptonic and lepto-hadronic scenarios to explain the underlying physics of multi-wavelength emission. The pure leptonic model and the two lepto-hadronic models, viz., (i) line-of-sight interactions of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays (UHECR; $E\gtrsim 10^{17}$ eV) with the cosmic background radiation and (ii) the interactions of relativistic protons with the cold protons in the jet, have been compared in our work. Moreover, an earlier study has associated Mrk 180 with the Telescope Array (TA) hotspot of UHECRs at $E>57$ EeV. This speculation motivates us to check whether ultrahigh energy protons and iron nuclei can reach the earth from Mrk 180. After comparing the results of our simulation with the current observational data, we find that Mrk 180 is unlikely to be a source of the UHECR events contributing to the TA hotspot for conservative strengths of extragalactic magnetic fields.