arXiv subjects

Hong-Bin Tan

Publications and source records attributed to Hong-Bin Tan.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Revisiting the XMM-Newton Observations of the Galactic Microquasar SS 433: Implications for the Origin of the Ultrahigh-Energy Emission Detected by LHAASO

Recently, the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO) detected ultrahigh-energy (UHE; photon energy E>100TeV) $\gamma$-ray emission toward SS 433, the microquasar embedded in the W50 nebula, making it a promising Galactic PeVatron candidate. We reanalyze the archival XMM-Newton observations covering the bipolar jets and the thermal X-ray shell north of SS 433, and derive spatially resolved profiles of the nonthermal X-ray intensity and photon index along both jets. The jet emission softens with distance from the source, implying a correspondingly evolving electron population. In particular, a hard electron component appears close to the jet bases, which can account for the UHE emission from SS 433 via inverse Compton radiation if the magnetic field remains approximately uniform along the jets. The result, however, is highly sensitive to the magnetic field profile. For flux-conserving configurations in which the field decreases as the jet expands, the stronger field required in the inner regions may reduce the number of X-ray-emitting electrons and suppress their inverse Compton emission. Furthermore, electron transport calculations show that injection only at the jet bases cannot reproduce the observed intensity and spectral evolution, particularly the downstream re-brightening features, indicating additional particle injection and/or re-acceleration within the jets.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2026

A Model for Magnetic Reconnection as the Origin of TeV Outbursts from NGC 1275

NGC 1275 showed two TeV $\gamma$-ray outbursts between November 2022 and January 2023, as detected by the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO). The source was also active in the X-ray and GeV bands during the TeV outburst period. Very-long-baseline radio observations reported a sudden acceleration and deflection of a jet knot in late 2022, before the main TeV activity. Motivated by this sequence, we examine whether magnetic reconnection triggered by the interaction between the jet and the ambient medium can explain the TeV flares. In this picture, reconnection produces many plasmoids, and a large ``monster'' plasmoid becomes the main flare region. We model the low-state emission with a multi-zone stochastic-dissipation component and add a compact reconnection-powered region for the flaring state. We then compare leptonic and hadronic interpretations. The leptonic model explains the enhanced X-ray emission as electron synchrotron radiation and the TeV emission mainly as inverse-Compton radiation. A pure proton--proton model can also produce TeV photons if dense target gas is present, but it requires a compact cloud with a density above the values directly inferred from free--free absorption and a large proton power. These requirements are demanding, but they do not by themselves exclude the hadronic interpretation, because the gas may be compressed by the jet or may contain denser cloud cores. Our results show that magnetic reconnection in the parsec-scale jet is a viable origin of the 2022--2023 TeV activity of NGC 1275, while better constraints on the gas density and jet power are needed to distinguish between leptonic and hadronic radiation channels.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2023

Revisiting the TeV flare of PKS 2155-304 in 2006

Blazars, a subclass of active galactic nuclei (AGN), are known to be bright $\gamma$-ray sources, frequently exhibiting active (flaring) periods. The blazar PKS~2155-304 is a high synchrotron-peaked BL Lac object located at redshift $z=0.116$. On 2006 July 28, an extremely remarkable outburst of VHE $\gamma$-ray emission from this blazar was reported by the H.E.S.S. experiment, with an average flux more than 10 times the low-state level. The variability timescale of this extraordinary flare was as short as approximately 200~s. In order to guarantee the transparency of the emission region for TeV photons, the fast variability demands an extremely high Doppler factor $\delta_{\rm D}>50$ of the jet within the classical one-zone model, leading to the so-called "Doppler factor crisis". Here we demonstrate that the stochastic dissipation model, which is a multi-blob scenario for blazars, can self-consistently explain the giant TeV flares of PKS~2155-304 and the low-state emission before and after the flares, in terms of both multi-wavelength spectral and variability characteristics. The required Doppler factor in this model can be as low as 20, which is a reasonable and typical value for blazar jets. The obtained model parameters may shed some light on the physical properties of the relativistic jet.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2023

A multi-zone view on the multi-wavelength emission of blazars

In this work, a time-dependent modeling is developed to study the emission properties of blazars in the low state. Motivated by various observations, we speculate and assume that numerous discrete radiation zones throughout the jet of a blazar contribute to the broadband emission. We model the temporal evolution of the electron spectrum in each emission zone taking into account the injection, cooling and escape of relativistic electrons. By doing so, we are able to calculate the multi-wavelength emission of each radiation zone. The observed emission of a blazar is then the superposition of the emission from all discrete radiation zones. We revisit the multi-wavelength spectral energy distributions, light curves and polarisation under the model, and discuss its potential to reproduce the flat radio spectra, the core-shift phenomena, the minute-scale gamma-ray variability, and the large polarisation-angle swings, which are difficult to explain under the conventional one-zone models simultaneously.

astro-ph.HE↗