Spectral signatures of PeVatrons

Abstract

We analyze the energy distributions of final (stable) products - gamma rays, neutrinos, and electrons - produced in inelastic proton-proton collisions in the PeV energy regime. We also calculate the energy spectrum of synchrotron radiation from secondary electrons, assuming that these are promptly cooled in the surrounding magnetic field. We show that the synchrotron radiation has an energy distribution much shallower than that of primary protons, and hence we suggest to take advantage of such a feature in the spectral analysis of the highest energy (cut-off) emission region from particle accelerators. For a broad range of energy distributions in the parent protons, we propose simple analytical presentations for the spectra of secondaries in the cut-off region. These results can be used in the interpretation of high-energy radiation from PeVatrons - cosmic-ray factories accelerating protons to energies up to 1 PeV.

arXiv comment14 pages, 6 figures. Accepted by ApJ

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Cited by in corpus (15)

• The Hunt for Pevatrons: The Case of Supernova Remnants
• Where are Milky Way's Hadronic PeVatrons?
• Could TDE outflows produce the PeV neutrino events?
• Sensitivity of the Cherenkov Telescope Array to spectral signatures of hadronic PeVatrons with application to Galactic Supernova Remnants
• Using Interstellar Clouds to Search for Galactic PeVatrons: Gamma-ray Signatures from Supernova Remnants
• The LHAASO PeVatron bright sky: what we learned
• Detection prospects of very and ultra high-energy gamma rays from extended sources with ASTRI, CTA, and LHAASO
• Probing LHAASO Galactic PeVatrons through gamma-ray and neutrino correspondence
• Evidence for particle acceleration approaching PeV energies in the W51 complex
• HAWC Study of Very-High-Energy $\gamma$-ray Spectrum of HAWC J1844-034
• Search for the Galactic accelerators of Cosmic-Rays up to the Knee with the Pevatron Test Statistic
• Detectability of Supernova Remnants with the Southern Wide-field Gamma-ray Observatory
• The expected potential of hadronic PeVatron searches with spectral $\gamma$-ray data from the Southern Wide-field Gamma-ray Observatory
• Particle acceleration to PeV energies in Pulsar Wind Nebula: a two zone model
• The GPSP Atlas: High-resolution Galactic Photon Survival Probability Atlas for Very-High- and Ultra-High-Energy Gamma-Ray Astronomy