Orphan γ-ray flares from relativistic blobs encountering luminous stars

Abstract

We propose that γ -rays in blazars can be produced during encounters of relativistic blobs of plasma with radiation field produced by luminous stars within (or close to) the jet. The blob is expected to contain relativistic electrons which comptonize stellar radiation to the GeV-TeV energies. Produced γ -rays can initiate the Inverse Compton e+/- pair cascade in the stellar radiation. We propose that such a scenario can be responsible for the appearance of the so-called orphan γ -ray flares. We show that the relativistic blob/luminous star collision model can explain the appearance of the extreme orphan γ -ray flare observed in the GeV and sub-TeV energy range from the flat spectrum radio quasar PKS 1222+21.

arXiv comment5 pages, accepted for publication in MNRAS Letters

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• A unified model for orphan and multi-wavelength blazar flares
• Observation of a sudden cessation of a very-high-energy gamma-ray flare in PKS 1510-089 with H.E.S.S. and MAGIC in May 2016
• Optical/$\gamma$-ray blazar flare correlations: understanding the high-energy emission process using ASAS-SN and Fermi light curves
• The impact of red giant/AGB winds on AGN jet propagation
• Collective non-thermal emission from an extragalactic jet interacting with stars
• Flaring activity from magnetic reconnection in BL Lacertae
• Non-thermal emission resulting from a supernova explosion inside an extragalactic jet
• Observational Implications of OJ 287's Predicted 2022 Disk Impact in the Black Hole Binary Model
• Absorption effects in the blazar's gamma-ray spectra due to luminous stars crossing the jet
• Obscured $pp$-channel neutrino sources
• A Ring of Fire Orphan γ-Ray Flare in the Neutrino Candidate 3C 120
• Dips in the sub-TeV gamma-ray light curves from central parts of galaxies due to transiting luminous stars
• Aspects of astrophysical particle production and beyond the Standard Model phenomenology
• The Major Gamma-ray Imaging Cherenkov Telescopes (MAGIC)