arXiv subjects

Prabir Banik

Publications and source records attributed to Prabir Banik.

13 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Ordinary Stars as Potential TeV Cosmic-Ray Accelerators

Recent observations of cosmic rays increasingly point to the existence of nearby sources - so-called "local tevatrons", capable of accelerating particles to TeV energies. In this study, we examine the potential of a typical main-sequence star, represented by the Sun, to act as a source of TeV cosmic rays (CRs). We focus on identifying plausible mechanisms through which a quiescent star can accelerate charged particles to relativistic energies. We show that shock-drift acceleration processes operating within the chromospheres of the Sun and similar stars can accelerate particles to energies reaching the TeV scale. Additionally, we provide quantitative estimates of both the maximum achievable particle energies, spectral index of energy spectrum and the resulting cosmic-ray fluxes that such stellar environments could realistically produce. Our results indicate that ordinary stars could potentially contribute to the fine structure observed in the cosmic-ray spectrum at TeV energies and may help explain the local excess of TeV-scale electrons and positrons detected by H.E.S.S. and other observatories.

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arXiv2023

Sun as a cosmic ray TeVatron

Very recently, HAWC observatory discovered the high-energy gamma ray emission from the solar disk during the quiescent stage of the Sun, extending the Fermi-LAT detection of intense, hard emission between 0.1 - 200 GeV to TeV energies. The flux of these observed gamma-rays is significantly higher than that theoretically expected from hadronic interactions of galactic cosmic rays with the solar atmosphere. More importantly, spectral slope of Fermi and HAWC observed gamma ray energy spectra differ significantly from that of galactic cosmic rays casting doubt on the prevailing galactic cosmic ray ancestry model of solar disk gamma rays. In this work, we argue that the quiet Sun can accelerate cosmic rays to TeV energies with an appropriate flux level in the solar chromosphere, as the solar chromosphere in its quiet state probably possesses the required characteristics to accelerate cosmic rays to TeV energies. Consequently, the mystery of the origin of observed gamma rays from the solar disk can be resolved consistently through the hadronic interaction of these cosmic rays with solar matter above the photosphere in a quiet state. The upcoming IceCube-Gen2 detector should be able to validate the proposed model in future through observation of TeV muon neutrino flux from the solar disk. The proposed idea should have major implications on the origin of galactic cosmic rays.

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arXiv2023

A pure hadronic model description of the observed neutrino emission from the tidal disruption event AT2019dsg

Recently, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory has detected the neutrino event IceCube-170922A from the radio-emitting tidal disruption event (TDE) named AT2019dsg, indicating to be one of the most likely sources of high-energy cosmic rays. So far, the photo-hadronic interaction is considered in the literature to interpret neutrino emission from AT2019dsg. Here, we examine whether the IceCube-170922A along with the broadband electromagnetic emission from the source can also be described by a pure hadronic emission employing the proton blazar inspired (PBI) model, which takes into account the non-relativistic protons that emerge under the charge neutrality situation of the blazar jet and thus offers sufficient target matter for pp interactions with shock-accelerated protons. Our findings show that the PBI model is able to consistently describe the IceCube observations on AT2019dsg and the broadband spectrum of the source without exceeding the observed X-ray and gamma-ray flux upper limits imposed by the XMM-Newton and Fermi-LAT telescopes.

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arXiv2023

Probing the origin of cosmic rays in Cygnus Cocoon using ultrahigh-energy gamma-ray and neutrino observations

Recent ultrahigh energy gamma-ray observations by the HAWC up to 100 TeV and LHAASO observatories up to 1.4 PeV energies from the direction of Fermi-LAT 4FGL source 4FGL J2028.6+4110e (Cygnus Cocoon), are indicative of a hadronic origin over a leptonic process for their creation. The IceCube Neutrino Observatory has reported IceCube-201120A, a neutrino event coming from the same direction, suggesting that the Cygnus Cocoon may correspond to one of the most plausible sources of high-energy cosmic rays. The apparent relationship of the neutrino event with the observed ultra high energy gamma-rays from Cygnus Cocoon is investigated in this work to study if it can be explained consistently in hadronic interactions of accelerated cosmic rays with ambient matter. Our findings reveal that leptonic mechanisms, together with pure hadronic mechanisms, make a considerable contribution to the understanding of the total electromagnetic spectrum as well as the observed neutrino event. The estimate of expected muon neutrino events from the Cygnus cocoon agrees with the one muon neutrino event detected so far in IceCube multi-year observations. Thus, our results are indicative of the potential of the Cygnus Cocoon to be a galactic cosmic ray source capable of accelerating at least up to PeV energies.

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arXiv2021

An interacting molecular cloud scenario for production of gamma-rays and neutrinos from MAGIC J1835-069, and MAGIC J1837-073

Recently the MAGIC telescope observed three TeV gamma-ray extended sources in the galactic plane in the neighborhood of radio SNR G24.7+0.6. Among them, the PWN HESS J1837-069 was detected earlier by the HESS observatory during its first galactic plane survey. The other two sources, MAGIC J1835-069 and MAGIC J1837-073 are detected for the first time at such high energies. Here we shall show that the observed gamma-rays from the SNR G24.7+0.6 and the HESS J1837-069 can be explained in terms of hadronic interactions of the PWN/SNR accelerated cosmic rays with the ambient matter. We shall further demonstrate that the observed gamma-rays from the MAGIC J1837$-$073 can be interpreted through hadronic interactions of runaway cosmic-rays from PWN HESS J1837-069 with the molecular cloud at the location of MAGIC J1837-073. No such association has been found between MAGIC J1835$-$069 and SNR G24.7+0.6 or PWN HESS J1837$-$069. We have examined the maximum energy attainable by cosmic-ray particles in the SNR G24.7+0.6/ PWN HESS J1837-069 and the possibility of their detection with future gamma-ray telescopes. The study of TeV neutrino emissions from the stated sources suggests that the HESS J1837$-$069 should be detected by IceCube Gen-2 neutrino telescope in a few years of observation.

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arXiv2021

Interpreting correlated observations of cosmic rays and gamma-rays from Centaurus A with a proton blazar inspired model

The nearest active radio galaxy Centaurus (Cen) A is a gamma-ray emitter in GeV to TeV energy scale. The High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) and non-simultaneous Fermi-LAT observation indicate an unusual spectral hardening above few GeV energies in the gamma-ray spectrum of Cen A. Very recently the H.E.S.S. observatory resolved the kilo parsec (kpc)-scale jets in Centaurus A at TeV energies. On the other hand, the Pierre Auger Observatory (PAO) detects a few ultra high energy cosmic ray (UHECR) events from Cen-A. The proton blazar inspired model, which considers acceleration of both electrons and hadronic cosmic rays in AGN jet, can explain the observed coincident high energy neutrinos and gamma rays from Ice-cube detected AGN jets. Here we have employed the proton blazar inspired model to explain the observed GeV to TeV gamma-ray spectrum features including the spectrum hardening at GeV energies along with the PAO observation on cosmic rays from Cen-A. Our findings suggest that the model can explain consistently the observed electromagnetic spectrum in combination with the appropriate number of UHECRs from Cen A.

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arXiv2020

Implications of a proton blazar inspired model on correlated observations of neutrinos with gamma-ray flaring blazars

Recent detection of the neutrino events IceCube-170922A, 13 muon-neutrino events observed in 2014-2015 and IceCube-141209A by IceCube observatory from the Blazars, namely TXS 0506+056, PKS 0502+049/TXS 0506+056 and GB6 J1040+0617 respectively in the state of enhanced gamma-ray emission, indicates the acceleration of cosmic rays in the blazar jets. The photo-meson ($pγ$) interaction cannot explain the IceCube observations of 13 neutrino events. The non-detection of broadline emission in the optical spectra of the IceCube blazars, however, question the hadronuclear (pp) interaction interpretation through relativistic jet meets with high density cloud. In this work, we investigate the proton blazar model in which the non-relativistic protons that come into existence under the charge neutrality condition of the blazar jet can offer sufficient target matter for $pp$ interaction with shock-accelerated protons, to describe the observed high-energy gamma-rays and neutrino signal from the said blazars. Our findings suggest that the model can explain consistently the observed electromagnetic spectrum in combination with appropriate number of neutrino events from the corresponding blazars.

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arXiv2019

Describing correlated observations of neutrino and gamma ray flares from the blazar TXS 0506+056 with proton blazar model

Recent detection of the neutrino event, IceCube-170922A by IceCube observatory from the Blazar TXS 0506+056 in the state of enhanced gamma ray emission indicates for acceleration of cosmic rays in the blazar jet. The non-detection of the broadline emission in the optical spectrum of TXS 0506+056 and other BL Lac objects suggests that external photons emissions are weak and hence photo-meson (p-gamma) interaction may not be a favored mechanism for high energy neutrino production. The lack of broadline signatures also creates doubt about the presence of a high density cloud in the vicinity of the super-massive black hole (SMBH) of TXS 0506+056 and consequently raised question on hadronuclear (pp) interaction interpretation like relativistic jet meets with high density cloud. Here we demonstrate that non-relativistic protons in the proton blazar model, those come into existence under charge neutrality condition of the blazar jet, offer sufficient target matter for pp-interaction with shock accelerated protons and consequently the model can describe consistently the observed high energy gamma rays and neutrino signal from the blazar TXS 0506+056.

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arXiv2019

Probing maximum energy of cosmic rays in SNR through gamma rays and neutrinos from the molecular clouds around SNR W28

The galactic cosmic rays are generally believed to be originated in supernova remnants (SNRs), produced in diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) process in supernova blast waves driven by expanding SNRs. One of the key unsettled issue in SNR origin of cosmic ray model is the maximum attainable energy by a cosmic ray particle in the supernova shock. Recently it has been suggested that an amplification of effective magnetic field strength at the shock may take place in young SNRs due to growth of magnetic waves induced by accelerated cosmic rays and as a result the maximum energy achieved by cosmic rays in SNR may reach the knee energy instead of $\sim 200$ TeV as predicted earlier under normal magnetic field situation. In the present work we investigate the implication of such maximum energy scenarios on TeV gamma rays and neutrino fluxes from the molecular clouds interacting with the SNR W28. The authors compute the gamma-ray and neutrino flux assuming two different values for the maximum energy reached by cosmic rays in the SNR, from CR interaction in nearby molecular clouds. Both protons and nuclei are considered as accelerated particles and as target material. Our findings suggest that the issue of the maximum energy of cosmic rays in SNRs can be observationally settled by the upcoming gamma-ray experiment the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO). The estimated neutrino fluxes from the molecular clouds are , however, out of reach of the present/near future generation of neutrino telescopes.

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arXiv2018

Leptonic originated High energy neutrinos from astrophysical objects

High-energy neutrinos are traditionally regarded as unambiguous signatures of hadronic cosmic rays in astrophysical environments. Here we show that TeV neutrinos can instead be produced by energetic electrons through purely electromagnetic processes in a variety of potential cosmic-ray accelerators. The resulting fluxes are comparable to those expected from hadronic interactions, suggesting that electrons may contribute a significant fraction of the neutrinos detected by the IceCube Observatory. These findings challenge the conventional interpretation of neutrino origins and underscore the need for joint gamma-ray and neutrino observations over a broad energy range to discriminate between hadronic and leptonic production mechanisms.

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arXiv2017

Implications of supernova remnant origin model of galactic cosmic rays on Gamma rays from young supernova remnants

It is widely believe that galactic cosmic rays are originated in supernova remnants (SNRs) where they are accelerated by diffusive shock acceleration process at supernova blast waves driven by expanding SNRs. In recent theoretical developments of the diffusive shock acceleration theory in SNRs, protons are expected to accelerate in SNRs at least up to the knee energy. If SNRs are true generator of cosmic rays, they should accelerate not only protons but also heavier nuclei with right proportion and the maximum energy of heavier nuclei should be atomic mass (Z) times that of protons. In this work we investigate the implications of acceleration of heavier nuclei in SNRs on energetic gamma rays those are produced in hadronic interaction of cosmic rays with ambient matter. Our findings suggest that the energy conversion efficiency has to be nearly double for the mixed cosmic ray composition instead of pure protons to explain the observation and secondly the gamma ray flux above few tens of TeV would be significantly higher if cosmic rays particles can attain energies Z times of the knee energy in lieu of 200 TeV, as suggested earlier for non-amplified magnetic fields. The two stated maximum energy paradigm will be discriminated in future by the upcoming gamma ray experiments like Cherenkov Telescope array (CTA).

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arXiv2017

Probing the cosmic ray mass composition in the knee region through TeV secondary particle fluxes from solar surroundings

The possibility of estimating the mass composition of primary cosmic rays above the knee of its energy spectrum through the study of high energy gamma rays, muons and neutrinos produced in the interactions of cosmic rays with the solar ambient matter and radiation has been explored. It is found that the theoretical fluxes of TeV gamma rays, muons and neutrinos from a region around $15^{o}$ of the Sun are sensitive to mass composition of cosmic rays in the PeV energy range. The experimental prospects for detection of such TeV gamma rays/neutrinos by future experiments are discussed.

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arXiv2015

The knee in the cosmic ray energy spectrum from the simultaneous EAS charged particles and muon density spectra

In this work we examine with the help of Monte Carlo simulation whether a consistent primary energy spectrum of cosmic rays emerges from both the experimentally observed total charged particles and muon size spectra of cosmic ray extensive air showers considering primary composition may or may not change beyond the knee of the energy spectrum. It is found that EAS-TOP observations consistently infer a knee in the primary energy spectrum provided the primary is pure unchanging iron whereas no consistent primary spectrum emerges from simultaneous use of the KASCADE observed total charged particle and muon spectra. However, it is also found that when primary composition changes across the knee the estimation of spectral index of total charged particle spectrum is quite tricky, depends on the choice of selection of points near the knee in the size spectrum.

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