High-energy neutrinos from FR0 radio-galaxies?

Abstract

The sources responsible for the emission of high-energy ($\gtrsim$ 100 TeV) neutrinos detected by IceCube are still unknown. Among the possible candidates, active galactic nuclei with relativistic jets are often examined, since the outflowing plasma seems to offer the ideal environment to accelerate the required parent high-energy cosmic rays. The non-detection of single point sources or -- almost equivalently -- the absence, in the IceCube events, of multiplets originating from the same sky position, constrains the cosmic density and the neutrino output of these sources, pointing to a numerous population of faint sources. Here we explore the possibility that FR0 radiogalaxies, the population of compact sources recently identified in large radio and optical surveys and representing the bulk of radio-loud AGN population, can represent suitable candidates for neutrino emission. Modeling the spectral energy distribution of a FR0 radiogalaxy recently associated to a $\gamma$-ray source detected by the Large Area Telescope onboard Fermi, we derive the physical parameters of its jet, in particular the power carried by it. We consider the possible mechanisms of neutrino production, concluding that $p\gamma$ reactions in the jet between protons and ambient radiation is too inefficient to sustain the required output. We propose an alternative scenario, in which protons, accelerated in the jet, escape from it and diffuse in the host galaxy, producing neutrinos as a result of $pp$ scattering with the interstellar gas, in strict analogy with the processes taking place in star-forming galaxies.

5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

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Cited by in corpus (13)

• High-resolution VLA observations of FR0 radio galaxies: properties and nature of compact radio sources
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• A Multi-Component Model for the Observed Astrophysical Neutrinos
• Scrutinizing FR 0 Radio Galaxies as Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Ray Source Candidates
• AGILE detection of gamma-ray sources coincident with cosmic neutrino events
• Faint $\gamma$-ray sources at low-redshift: the radio galaxy IC 1531
• Seeking Neutrino Emission from AGN through Temporal and Spatial Cross Correlation
• High-Energy Astrophysical Neutrinos from Cosmic Strings
• Search for gamma-ray counterparts of newly discovered radio astrophysical sources
• The High Energy View of FR0 Radio Galaxies
• Aspects of astrophysical particle production and beyond the Standard Model phenomenology
• The eMERLIN and EVN view of FR0 radio galaxies
• A New Gamma-ray Emitting Population of FR0 Radio Galaxies