The possibility of multi-TeV secondary gamma rays from GRB221009A

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Kalashev, Oleg, Aharonian, Felix, Essey, Warren, Inoue, Yoshiyuki, Kusenko, Alexander
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Kalashev, Oleg
Aharonian, Felix
Essey, Warren
Inoue, Yoshiyuki
Kusenko, Alexander
author_facet Kalashev, Oleg
Aharonian, Felix
Essey, Warren
Inoue, Yoshiyuki
Kusenko, Alexander
contents The brightest gamma ray burst (GRB) ever observed, GRB221009A, produced a surprisingly large flux of gamma rays with multi-TeV energies, which are expected to be absorbed in interactions with extragalactic background light (EBL). If the highest energy gamma rays were produced at the source, their spectral shape would have to exhibit a nonphysical spike even for the lowest levels of EBL. We show that, for widely accepted models of EBL, the data can be explained by secondary gamma rays produced in cosmic ray interactions along the line of sight, as long as the extragalactic magnetic fields along the line of sight are $10^{-16}$G or smaller, assuming 1 Mpc correlation length. Our interpretation supports the widely held expectation that GRB jets can accelerate cosmic rays to energies as high as 10 EeV and above, and it has implications for understanding the magnitudes of EGMFs.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2405_05402
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The possibility of multi-TeV secondary gamma rays from GRB221009A
Kalashev, Oleg
Aharonian, Felix
Essey, Warren
Inoue, Yoshiyuki
Kusenko, Alexander
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
The brightest gamma ray burst (GRB) ever observed, GRB221009A, produced a surprisingly large flux of gamma rays with multi-TeV energies, which are expected to be absorbed in interactions with extragalactic background light (EBL). If the highest energy gamma rays were produced at the source, their spectral shape would have to exhibit a nonphysical spike even for the lowest levels of EBL. We show that, for widely accepted models of EBL, the data can be explained by secondary gamma rays produced in cosmic ray interactions along the line of sight, as long as the extragalactic magnetic fields along the line of sight are $10^{-16}$G or smaller, assuming 1 Mpc correlation length. Our interpretation supports the widely held expectation that GRB jets can accelerate cosmic rays to energies as high as 10 EeV and above, and it has implications for understanding the magnitudes of EGMFs.
title The possibility of multi-TeV secondary gamma rays from GRB221009A
topic High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.05402