Are Cen a and M87 Tev Gamma-Ray Sources?

Abstract

In this paper, we identify Cen A and M87, two nearby Fanaroff-Riley I (FRI) radio galaxies, with high-energy-peaked BL Lac-like (HBL-like) objects by investigating their spectral energy distributions (SEDs). The SED peak of Cen A at $\sim$150 keV, which was generally believed to be the peak of inverse-Compton emission as in the case of 3C 273, is found to be actually the peak of synchrotron emission. The synchrotron emission of M87 peaks in the far UV band. We summarize the properties of $\gamma$-ray-loud blazars, especially those of TeV BL Lac objects, and generalize them to HBL-like FRI radio galaxies according to the unified scheme of BL Lac objects and FRI radio galaxies. We infer that Cen A may have a peak in its Compton component power output at $\sim$1 TeV, and that M87 may have a Compton emission peak at $\sim$0.1 TeV. For Cen A, the estimated TeV $\gamma$-ray flux during outburst is F(0.25 $-$ 30 TeV) = 6.4$\times 10^{-9}$ erg cm${}^{-2}$s${}^{-1}$, and for M87, F(0.25 $-$ 30 TeV) = 1.1$\times 10^{-11}$ erg cm${}^{-2}$s${}^{-1}$. Both fluxes are detectable by TeV detectors available today, and hence Cen A and M87 are TeV $\gamma$-ray source candidates. By investigating the long term variability, we predict that Cen A will undergo an outburst in the near future and will be detectable at the TeV $\gamma$-ray energy range using the CANGAROO and the German-French-Italian experiment HESS TeV $\gamma$-ray telescopes.

5 pages, 1 figure, accepted by ApJ Letters

References in corpus (1)

• New Evidence for the Unified Scheme of BL Lac Objects and Fri Radio Galaxies

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