Bayesian parameter study of the Seyfert-starburst composite galaxies NGC 1068 and NGC 7469

TL;DR

This study uses Bayesian methods to analyze the non-thermal emission features of Seyfert-starburst galaxies NGC 1068 and NGC 7469, aiming to understand their radio and high-energy neutrino signals within a refined homogeneous model.

Contribution

It introduces a Bayesian parameter study with MCMC to model non-thermal features of these galaxies, incorporating stochastic acceleration, energy losses, and gamma-ray attenuation, improving previous homogeneous models.

Findings

NGC 1068's non-thermal features are well explained by the model.

NGC 7469 requires different coronal sizes for mm-bump and neutrino emission.

Spatial inhomogeneities are crucial for understanding AGN corona phenomena.

Abstract

Multimessenger observation of the Seyfert-starburst composite galaxies NGC 1068 and NGC 7469 indicate a characteristic feature in the radio band (the so-called mm-bump) as well as indication of high-energy neutrinos by the AGN corona. Moreover, also the starburst ring of these sources is bright in the radio and hence, a potential source of $\gamma$-rays and neutrinos. We aim to explain the non-thermal features of these two sources with our homogeneous steady-state Seyfert-starburst composite model, which we refined in this work. Hereby, we account for stochastic diffuse acceleration and energy losses within the corona and $\gamma\gamma$-pair attenuation of the escaping $\gamma$-rays. Since the non-thermal features of Seyfert sources contribute only marginally to the electromagnetic spectrum, only few data points can be assigned to the starburst ring or the AGN corona. Hence, prior information on the physical parameters is incorporated within a Markov Chain Monte Carlo approach to avoid overfitting. Based on this Bayesian parameter study we show, that the non-thermal features of NGC 1068 can be explained well. Still a more detailed treatment of the spatial inhomogeneities in the central region of the AGN could further improve the fit results. This manifests itself even more clearly in the case of NGC 7469, where the mm-bump needs to emerge from a coronal size $R_{\rm c}>100\,\mathcal{R}_{\rm s}$, whereas (TeV-PeV)-neutrino emission requires $R_{\rm c}< 10\,\mathcal{R}_{\rm s}$. Similar to what has previously been shown in other wavebands, our analysis highlights that the spatial extension of the so-called AGN corona depends the considered energy of the messenger. Hence, it seems that there is not a unique edge of the corona and a substantial progress in the understanding of these phenomena is expected if future analysis account for these spatial inhomogeneities.