2023/07/06 by Carlos Blanco, Blanco, Carlos, Dan Hooper +5 · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA) #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #FOS: Physical sciences #High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) #Neutrino Physics Research
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2307.03259
openalex publication_date 2023/07/06 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
IceCube has recently reported the detection of ∼ 1-10 \rm TeV neutrinos from the nearby active galaxy, NGC 1068. The lack of TeV-scale emission from this source suggests that these neutrinos are generated in the dense corona that surrounds NGC 1068's supermassive black hole. In this paper, we present a physical model for this source, including the processes of pair production, pion production, synchrotron, and inverse Compton scattering. We have also performed a new analysis of Fermi-LAT data from the direction of NGC 1068, finding that the gamma-ray emission from this source is very soft but bright at energies below ∼ 1 \rm GeV. Our model can predict a gamma-ray spectrum that is consistent with Fermi-LAT observations, but only if the magnetic field within the corona of this active galactic nucleus (AGN) is quite high, namely B\gtrsim 6 \rm kG. To explain the observed neutrino emission, this source must accelerate protons with a total power that is comparable to its intrinsic X-ray luminosity. In this context, we consider two additional nearby active galaxies, NGC 4151 and NGC 3079, which have been identified as promising targets for IceCube.