VHE Emission from Magnetic Reconnection in the RIAF of SgrA*

Abstract

The cosmic-ray (CR) accelerator at the galactic centre (GC) is not yet established by current observations. Here we investigate the radiative-inefficient accretion flow (RIAF) of Sagittarius A* (SgrA*) as a CR accelerator assuming acceleration by turbulent magnetic reconnection, and derive possible emission fluxes of CRs interacting within the RIAF (the central $\sim10^{13}$cm). The target environment of the RIAF is modelled with numerical, general relativistic magneto-hydrodynamics (GRMHD) together with leptonic radiative transfer simulations. The acceleration of the CRs is not computed here. Instead, we inject CRs constrained by the magnetic reconnection power of the accretion flow and compute the emission/absorption of $\gamma$-rays due to these CRs interacting with the RIAF, through Monte Carlo simulations employing the {\tt CRPropa 3} code. The resulting very-high-energy (VHE) fluxes are not expected to reproduce the point source HESS J1745-290 as the emission of this source is most likely produced at pc scales. The emission profiles derived here intend to trace the VHE signatures of the RIAF as a CR accelerator and provide predictions for observations of the GC with improved angular resolution and differential flux sensitivity as those of the forthcoming Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). Within the scenario presented here, we find that for mass accretion rates $\gtrsim 10^{-7}$M$_\odot$yr$^{-1}$, the RIAF of SgrA* produces VHE fluxes which are consistent with the H.E.S.S. upper limits for the GC and potentially observable by the future CTA. The associated neutrino fluxes are negligible compared with the diffuse neutrino emission measured by the IceCube.