Deciphering the VHE gamma-rays spectra of Extreme High-Frequency peaked BL Lac Objects through a Photohadronic Model

Sarira Sahu; D. I. Páez-Sánchez; A. U. Puga Oliveros; M. E. Iglesias Martínez; Jose Guerra Carmenate; R. de J. Pacheco-Aké; G. Sánchez-Colón; Subhash Rajpoot; P. Fernández de Córdoba; Gaetano Lambiase

arXiv · 2609.30641

Deciphering the VHE gamma-rays spectra of Extreme High-Frequency peaked BL Lac Objects through a Photohadronic Model

Sarira Sahu·D. I. Páez-Sánchez·A. U. Puga Oliveros·M. E. Iglesias Martínez·Jose Guerra Carmenate·R. de J. Pacheco-Aké·G. Sánchez-Colón·Subhash Rajpoot·P. Fernández de Córdoba·Gaetano Lambiase

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Abstract

Extreme high-frequency peaked BL Lac objects (EHBLs) have their synchrotron peak above $\sim 1$ keV and their inverse Compton peak extends up to several TeVs. Due to low luminosity of EHBLs, these objects are often undetected, and only a small number of them are thus known. As a result, they are poorly understood. Using a photohadronic model and including extragalactic background light correction we analyzed 22 very high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray spectra of 15 EHBL sources observed in different periods. We find that the photohadronic model used can adequately describe the observed VHE spectral energy distribution and furthermore, we classify them according to the value of the photon spectral index, $δ$. The redshift of the EHBL HESS J1943+213 is also tightly constrained using the same photohadronic model. Within the sample, a plurality of flaring epochs fall in the high-emission state which is followed by the low-emission state and the very-high-emission state respectively. These fractions of flaring epochs characterize only the present sample, not the EHBL population at large. Due to the anomalous behavior of the VHE gamma-ray spectra of the EHBL H 2356-309, we suggest it to be a new subclass of EHBL having hard and very soft intrinsic spectra during different flaring epochs.

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Sarira Sahu, D. I. Páez-Sánchez, A. U. Puga Oliveros, M. E. Iglesias Martínez, Jose Guerra Carmenate, R. de J. Pacheco-Aké, G. Sánchez-Colón, Subhash Rajpoot, P. Fernández de Córdoba, Gaetano Lambiase. 2026-09-25. Deciphering the VHE gamma-rays spectra of Extreme High-Frequency peaked BL Lac Objects through a Photohadronic Model. https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.30641

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