A hadronic minute-scale GeV flare from quasar 3C 279?

Abstract

The flat spectrum radio quasar 3C 279 is a known $\gamma$-ray variable source that has recently exhibited minute-scale variability at energies $>100$ MeV. One-zone leptonic models for blazar emission are severely constrained by the short timescale variability that implies a very compact emission region at a distance of hundreds of Schwarzschild radii from the central black hole. Here, we investigate a hadronic scenario where GeV $\gamma$-rays are produced via proton synchrotron radiation. We also take into account the effects of the hadronically initiated electromagnetic cascades (EMC). For a $\gamma$-ray emitting region in rough equipartition between particles and kG magnetic fields, located within the broad-line region (BLR), the development of EMC redistributes the $\gamma$-ray luminosity to softer energy bands and eventually leads to broad-band spectra that differ from the observed ones. Suppression of EMC and energy equipartition are still possible, if the $\gamma$-ray emitting region is located beyond the BLR, is fast moving with Doppler factor ($>70$), and contains strong magnetic fields ($>100$ G). Yet, these conditions cannot be easily met in parsec-scale jets, thus disfavouring a proton synchrotron origin of the Fermi-LAT flare.

5 pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication

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Cited by in corpus (14)

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• Time-dependent lepto-hadronic modeling of the emission from blazar jets with SOPRANO: the case of TXS 0506+056, 3HSP J095507.9+355101 and 3C 279
• Constraints on the emission region of 3C 279 during strong flares in 2014 and 2015 through VHE gamma-ray observations with H.E.S.S
• Gaussian Process Modeling $Fermi$-LAT $\gamma$-ray Blazar Variability: A Sample of Blazars with $\gamma$-ray Quasi-periodicities
• Correlation between optical and $\gamma$-ray flux variations in bright flat spectrum radio quasars
• GB6 J2113+1121: A multi-wavelength flaring gamma-ray blazar temporally and spatially coincident with the neutrino event IceCube-191001A
• A self-consistent leptonic-hadronic interpretation of the electromagnetic and neutrino emissions from blazar TXS 0506+056
• A numerical study of long-term multi-wavelength blazar variability
• A closer look at the electromagnetic signatures of Bethe-Heitler pair production process in blazars
• The observability of plasmoid-powered $\gamma$-ray flares with the Fermi Large Area Telescope
• Correlation between emission-line luminosity and gamma-ray dominance in the blazar 3C 279
• Suborbital Fermi/LAT Analysis of the Brightest Gamma-Ray Flare of Blazar 3C 454.3
• Synchrotron Gamma-Ray Emission Model of the Giant Outburst of Quasar 3C 279 in 2015 June: Fast Reconnection or Stochastic Acceleration with Electromagnetic Cascade?