Neutrinos and gamma rays from beta decays in an active galactic nucleus NGC 1068 jet

TL;DR

This paper proposes a model explaining TeV neutrinos and gamma rays from NGC 1068 through beta decays of neutrons from photodisintegration of helium nuclei in the jet, aligning with observations and suggesting broader applicability.

Contribution

It introduces a novel combined model of beta decay and Bethe-Heitler processes to explain high-energy neutrino and gamma-ray emissions from active galactic nuclei.

Findings

Neutrino energies match photodisintegration of helium nuclei at several PeV.

Gamma-ray flux from beta decay is lower than neutrino flux, consistent with observations.

Model can be extended to other Seyfert galaxies like NGC 4151.

Abstract

We show that TeV neutrinos and high-energy gamma rays detected from the nearby active galaxy NGC 1068 can simultaneously be explained in a model based on the beta decays of neutrons produced in the photodisintegration of 4He nuclei on ultraviolet photons in the jet. The photodisintegration of nuclei occurs at energies above several PeV, which explains the 1-100 TeV energies of the observed neutrinos. The TeV gamma-ray flux accompanying the beta decays is expected to be much lower than the neutrino flux, which agrees with the observations of NGC 1068 showing a gamma-ray deficit as compared to the expectations from proton-photon interactions. Furthermore, the synchrotron and inverse Compton gamma-ray flux associated with protons' Bethe-Heitler pair production and the photopion processes in the jet can be consistent with the observed gamma-ray flux at GeV energies for a plausible range of magnetic fields of jets. This scenario, combining beta decay and Bethe-Heitler, can be applied to other jet Seyfert galaxies such as NGC 4151. Future measurements of the neutrino flavor ratio can help confirm the beta-decay origin of the observed neutrinos.