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DOE OSTI2021

A fully kinetic model for orphan gamma-ray flares in blazars

ABSTRACT Blazars emit a highly variable non-thermal spectrum. It is usually assumed that the same non-thermal electrons are responsible for the IR-optical-UV emission (via synchrotron) and the gamma-ray emission (via inverse Compton). Hence, the light curves in the two bands should be correlated. Orphan gamma-ray flares (i.e. lacking a luminous low-frequency counterpart) challenge our theoretical understanding of blazars. By means of large-scale two-dimensional radiative particle-in-cell simulations, we show that orphan gamma-ray flares may be a self-consistent by-product of particle energization in turbulent magnetically dominated pair plasmas. The energized particles produce the gamma-ray flare by inverse Compton scattering an external radiation field, while the synchrotron luminosity is heavily suppressed since the particles are accelerated nearly along the direction of the local magnetic field. The ratio of inverse Compton to synchrotron luminosity is sensitive to the initial strength of turbulent fluctuations (a larger degree of turbulent fluctuations weakens the anisotropy of the energized particles, thus increasing the synchrotron luminosity). Our results show that the anisotropy of the non-thermal particle population is key to modelling the blazar emission.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2022

The Andromeda gamma-ray excess: background systematics of the millisecond pulsars and dark matter interpretations

ABSTRACT Since the discovery of an excess in gamma rays in the direction of M31, its cause has been unclear. Published interpretations focus on dark matter or stellar related origins. Studies of a similar excess in the Milky Way centre motivate a correlation of the spatial morphology of the signal with the distribution of stellar mass in M31. However, a robust determination of the best theory for the observed excess emission is challenging due to uncertainties in the astrophysical gamma-ray foreground model. We perform a spectro-morphological analysis of the M31 gamma-ray excess using state-of-the-art templates for the distribution of stellar mass in M31 and novel astrophysical foreground models for its sky region. We construct maps for the old stellar populations of M31 based on data from the PAndAS survey and carefully remove the foreground stars. We also produce improved astrophysical foreground models via novel image inpainting techniques based on machine learning methods. Our stellar maps, mimicking the location of a population of millisecond pulsars in the bulge of M31, reach a 5.4σ significance, making them as strongly favoured as the simple phenomenological models usually considered in the literature, e.g. disc-like templates. This detection is robust to generous variations of the astrophysical foreground model. Once the stellar templates are included in the astrophysical model, we show that the dark matter annihilation interpretation of the signal is unwarranted. We demonstrate that about one million unresolved millisecond pulsars naturally explain the observed gamma-ray luminosity per stellar mass, energy spectrum, and stellar bulge-to-disc flux ratio.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2023

On the morphology of the gamma-ray galactic centre excess

ABSTRACT The characteristics of the galactic centre excess (GCE) emission observed in gamma-ray energies – especially the morphology of the GCE – remain a hotly debated subject. The manner in which the dominant diffuse gamma-ray background is modelled has been claimed to have a determining effect on the preferred morphology. In this work, we compare two distinct approaches to the galactic diffuse gamma-ray emission background: the first approach models this emission through templates calculated from a sequence of well-defined astrophysical assumptions, while the second approach divides surrogates for the background gamma-ray emission into cylindrical galactocentric rings with free independent normalizations. At the latitudes that we focus on, we find that the former approach works better, and that the overall best fit is obtained for an astrophysically motivated fit when the GCE follows the morphology expected of dark matter annihilation. Quantitatively, the improvement compared with the best ring-based fits is roughly 6500 in the χ2 and roughly 4000 in the log of the Bayesian evidence.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2022

Contribution from TeV halos to the isotropic gamma-ray background

We report recent observations have shown that pulsars are surrounded by extended regions which emit TeV-scale gamma rays through the inverse Compton scattering of very high energy electrons and positrons. Such TeV halos are responsible for a large fraction of the Milky Way’s TeV-scale gamma-ray emission. In this paper, we calculate the gamma-ray spectrum from the population of TeV halos located within the Andromeda Galaxy, predicting a signal that is expected to be detectable by the Cherenkov Telescope Array. We also calculate the contribution from TeV halos to the isotropic gamma-ray background, finding that these sources should contribute significantly to this flux at the highest measured energies, constituting up to ~20 % of the signal observed above ~0.1TeV. We also comment on the implications of our results for the origin of the diffuse neutrino flux detected by IceCube.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2023

Constraining the dark matter contribution of $\gamma$ rays in clusters of galaxies using Fermi -LAT data

Clusters of galaxies are the largest gravitationally bound systems in the Universe. Their dynamics are dominated by dark matter (DM), which makes them among the best targets for indirect DM searches. We analyze 12 years of data collected by the Fermi Large Area Telescope (Fermi-LAT) in the direction of 49 clusters of galaxies selected for their proximity to the Earth and their high x-ray flux, which makes them the most promising targets. We first create physically motivated models for the DM density around each cluster considering different assumptions for the substructure distribution. Then we perform a combined search for a $\gamma$-ray signal in the Fermi-LAT data between 500 MeV and 1 TeV. We find a signal of $\gamma$ rays potentially associated with DM that is at a statistical significance of 2.5⁢σ-3.0⁢σ when considering a slope for the subhalo mass distribution α =1.9 and minimum mass of M min =10 -6⁢ M ⊙ . The best-fit DM mass and annihilation cross sections for a b⁢$\overline{b}$ annihilation channel are m X =40–60 GeV and $\langle$σ⁢ν$\rangle$=(2–4)×10 -25 cm 3 /s. When we consider α =2.0 and M min =10 -9⁢ M ⊙ , the best fit of the cross section reduces to $\langle$σ⁢ν$\rangle$=(4–10)×10 -26 cm 3 /s. For both DM substructure models there is a tension between the values of $\langle$σ⁢ν$\rangle$ that we find and the upper limits obtained with the nondetection of a $\gamma$-ray flux from Milky Way dwarf spheroidal galaxies. In conclusion, this signal is thus more likely associated with $\gamma$ rays produced in the intracluster region by cosmic rays colliding with gas and photon fields.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2024

Supernova Axions Convert to Gamma Rays in Magnetic Fields of Progenitor Stars

It has long been established that axions could have been produced within the nascent proto-neutron star formed following the type II supernova SN1987A, escaped the star due to their weak interactions, and then converted to gamma rays in the Galactic magnetic fields; the nonobservation of a gamma-ray flash coincident with the neutrino burst leads to strong constraints on the axion-photon coupling for axion masses m a ≲10 –10 eV. In this Letter, we use SN1987A to constrain higher mass axions, all the way to m a ~10 –3 eV, by accounting for axion production from the Primakoff process, nucleon bremsstrahlung, and pion conversion along with axion-photon conversion on the still-intact magnetic fields of the progenitor star. Moreover, we show that gamma-ray observations of the next Galactic supernova, leveraging the magnetic fields of the progenitor star, could detect quantum chromodynamics axions for masses above roughly 50 μ⁢eV, depending on the supernova. We propose a new full-sky gamma-ray satellite constellation that we call the GALactic AXion Instrument for Supernova (GALAXIS) to search for such future signals along with related signals from extragalactic neutron star mergers.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2020

Reconstructing the Position and Intensity of Multiple Gamma-Ray Point Sources with a Sparse Parametric Algorithm

IEEE We present an experimental demonstration of Additive Point Source Localization (APSL), a sparse parametric imaging algorithm that reconstructs the 3D positions and activities of multiple gamma-ray point sources. Using a handheld gamma-ray detector array and up to four 8 μCi 137 Cs gamma-ray sources, we performed both source-search and source-separation experiments in an indoor laboratory environment. In the majority of the source-search measurements, APSL reconstructed the correct number of sources with position accuracies of ~20 cm and activity accuracies (unsigned) of ~20%, given measurement times of two to three minutes and distances of closest approach (to any source) of ~20 cm. In source-separation measurements where the detector could be moved freely about the environment, APSL was able to resolve two sources separated by 75 cm or more given only ~60 s of measurement time. In these source-separation measurements, APSL produced larger total activity errors of ~40%, but obtained source separation distances accurate to within 15 cm. We also compare our APSL results against traditional Maximum Likelihood-Expectation Maximization (ML-EM) reconstructions, and demonstrate improved image accuracy and interpretability using APSL over ML-EM. These results indicate that APSL is capable of accurately reconstructing gamma-ray source positions and activities using measurements from existing detector hardware.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2026

Experimental Investigation of Subcritical Neutron and Gamma Noise Methods at the Seven Percent Critical Experiment (7uPCX)

As part of a collaborative international effort organized by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), with key participants from the Institut de radioprotection et de sûreté nucléaire (IRSN), Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), and the Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), a series of high-multiplication subcritical neutron and gamma noise measurements was planned and executed. The primary aim of this article was to advance detector technology, assess the validity of gamma noise for subcriticality measurements, and nuclear criticality safety, focusing on collecting list-mode or time-series data from various reactor configurations with multiplication values ranging from 20 to 310. This comprehensive dataset enabled a detailed comparative analysis of multiple detector systems and the results of both neutron and gamma noise measurements. In this work, we focus on experimentally comparing the results from neutron and gamma noise measurements. We note good agreement between estimations of the prompt neutron decay constant and demonstrate the effects of changing reactor geometry on the efficiency of the differing methods. Our results agree well with independent experimental measurements and simulations performed by LLNL.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2026

Data-Driven Performance Optimization of Gamma Spectrometers With Many Channels

In gamma spectrometers with variable spectroscopic performance across many channels (e.g., many pixels or voxels), a tradeoff exists between including data from successively worse-performing readout channels and increasing efficiency. Brute-force calculation of the optimal set of included channels is exponentially infeasible as the number of channels grows, and approximate methods are required. In this work, we present a data-driven framework for attempting to find near-optimal sets of included detector channels. The framework leverages non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) to learn the behavior of gamma spectra across the detector and clusters similarly-performing detector channels together. Performance comparisons are then made between spectra with channel clusters removed, which is more feasible than brute force. The framework is general and can be applied to arbitrary, user-defined performance metrics depending on the application. We apply this framework to optimizing gamma spectra measured by H3D M400 CdZnTe (CZT) spectrometers, which exhibit variable performance across their crystal volumes. In particular, we show several examples optimizing various performance metrics for uranium and plutonium gamma spectra in non-destructive assay (NDA) for nuclear safeguards, and explore trends in performance versus parameters such as clustering algorithm type. We also compare the NMF + clustering pipeline to several non-machine-learning (ML) algorithms, including several greedy algorithms. Although, we find that the NMF + clustering pipeline tends to find the best-performing set of detector voxels, significantly improving over the unoptimized spectra, but that a greedy accumulation of spectra segmented by detector depth can, in some cases, give similar performance improvements in much less computation time.

Energy resolution↗

DOE OSTI2022

Gamma Driven Catalysis of Ammonia

Experiments were conducted to investigate a passive production mechanism for the world’s most energy intensive commodity, ammonia. A novel method, gamma catalyzed ammonia production at ambient conditions, was investigated. Ammonia is currently produced through the highly energy intensive Haber-Fritz process, which requires an operation pressure of 400 atmosphere and 600 degrees Celsius. Due to the high demand and need for ammonia, the Haber-Bosch process consumes 25% all energy produced globally. Reported herein was an attempt to produce ammonia at ambient temperature (20 C) and ambient pressure (1 atm), through a novel process developed at PNNL, gamma driven catalysis of ammonia. Although the measurements of the ammonia production suggest wild success, reports in the literature by Gao et.al. suggest an experimental positive bias in the results. To rule out the potential positive bias, multiple additional production campaigns would be needed to with an alternate analysis technique such as ion chromatography, as suggested by Gao et.al. Unfortunately, due to this late determination of potential positive bias, the results of this study remain inconclusive to the feasibility of gamma driven catalysis of ammonia and more work is needed to describe the chemical evolution with time. The results are a first step and demonstrate that gamma-catalyst mediated reactions are possible. This represents a key opportunity to explore the fundamental chemistry of high band gap catalysts that can change the paradigm of radiation, transforming it from a waste to a valuable energy source.

38 RADIATION CHEMISTRY, RADIOCHEMISTRY, AND NUCLEA↗

DOE OSTI2022

Variability and Spectral Characteristics of Three Flaring Gamma-Ray Quasars Observed by VERITAS and Fermi-LAT

Flat-spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) are the most luminous blazars at GeV energies but only rarely emit detectable fluxes of TeV gamma rays, typically during bright GeV flares. We explore the gamma-ray variability and spectral characteristics of three FSRQs that have been observed at GeV and TeV energies by Fermi-LAT and VERITAS, making use of almost 100 hr of VERITAS observations spread over 10 yr: 3C 279, PKS 1222+216, and Ton 599. We explain the GeV flux distributions of the sources in terms of a model derived from a stochastic differential equation describing fluctuations in the magnetic field in the accretion disk and estimate the timescales of magnetic flux accumulation and stochastic instabilities in their accretion disks. We identify distinct flares using a procedure based on Bayesian blocks and analyze their daily and subdaily variability and gamma-ray energy spectra. Using observations from VERITAS, as well as Fermi, Swift, and the Steward Observatory, we model the broadband spectral energy distributions of PKS 1222+216 and Ton 599 during very high energy (VHE)–detected flares in 2014 and 2017, respectively, strongly constraining the jet Doppler factors and gamma-ray emission region locations during these events. Finally, we place theoretical constraints on the potential production of PeV-scale neutrinos during these VHE flares.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2022

Multiwavelength Observations of the Blazar VER J0521+211 during an Elevated TeV Gamma-Ray State

We report on a long-lasting, elevated gamma-ray flux state from VER J0521+211 observed by VERITAS, MAGIC, and Fermi-LAT in 2013 and 2014. The peak integral flux above 200 GeV measured with the nightly binned light curve is (8.8 ± 0.4) × 10 –7 photons m –2 s –1 , or ~37% of the Crab Nebula flux. Multiwavelength observations from X-ray, UV, and optical instruments are also presented. A moderate correlation between the X-ray and TeV gamma-ray fluxes was observed, and the X-ray spectrum appeared harder when the flux was higher. Using the gamma-ray spectrum and four models of the extragalactic background light (EBL), a conservative 95% confidence upper limit on the redshift of the source was found to be z ≤ 0.31. Unlike the gamma-ray and X-ray bands, the optical flux did not increase significantly during the studied period compared to the archival low-state flux. The spectral variability from optical to X-ray bands suggests that the synchrotron peak of the spectral energy distribution (SED) may become broader during flaring states, which can be adequately described with a one-zone synchrotron self-Compton model varying the high-energy end of the underlying particle spectrum. The synchrotron peak frequency of the SED and the radio morphology of the jet from the MOJAVE program are consistent with the source being an intermediate-frequency-peaked BL Lac object.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2023

Constraints on the Gamma-Ray Emission from Small Solar System Bodies with the Fermi Large Area Telescope Data

All known small solar system bodies have diameters between a few meters and a few thousands of kilometers. Based on the collisional evolution of solar system bodies, a larger number of asteroids with diameters down to ~2 m is thought to exist. As all solar system bodies, small bodies can be passive sources of high-energy gamma-rays, produced by the interaction of energetic cosmic rays impinging on their surfaces. Since the majority of known asteroids are in orbits between Mars and Jupiter (in a region known as the Main Belt), we expect them to produce a diffuse emission close to the ecliptic plane. In this work, we have studied the gamma-ray emission coming from the ecliptic using the data collected by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) onboard the Fermi satellite. We have fit the results with simulations of the gamma-ray intensity at the source level (calculated with the software FLUKA) to constrain the small solar system bodies population. Finally, we have proposed a model describing the distribution of asteroid sizes and we have used the LAT data to constrain the gamma-ray emission expected from this model and, in turn, on the model itself.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2025

Gamma Rays as a Signature of r -process Producing Supernovae: Remnants and Future Galactic Explosions

We consider the question of whether core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe) can produce rapid neutron capture process (r-process) elements and how future MeV gamma-ray observations could address this. Rare types of CCSNe characterized by substantial magnetic fields and rotation, known as magnetorotational supernovae (MR-SNe), are theoretically predicted to produce these elements, although direct observational evidence is lacking. We suggest that this critical question be addressed through the study of some of the 11 CCSN remnants located within 10 kpc, as well as through the detection of gamma-ray emission from a future Galactic supernova. We use a two-dimensional MR-SN model to estimate the expected gamma flux stemming from nuclear decays in the range of a few tens of keV to a few MeV. Our results indicate that an observation of 126 Sn ( 126 Sb) in a remnant stands out as a signature of an r-process-producing supernova. Since the neutron-rich conditions that lead to the production of the r-process could also enhance the production of 60 Fe, the detection of substantial 60 Fe ( 60 Co) would be indicative of favorable conditions for the r-process. In the case of a future supernova explosion, when the evolution of the spectrum is studied over 10 days to a few years, a rich picture emerges. At various epochs, the second peak r-process isotopes such as 125 Sn, 131 I, 132 Te, 132 I, and 140 La produce signals that are not obscured by the gamma emission from explosive burning products and electron–positron annihilation. The weak r-process isotopes 95 Nb, 103 Ru, and 106 Rh also have periods of prominence.

Gamma-rays↗

NASA NTRS2002

Response of thyroid follicular cells to gamma irradiation compared to proton irradiation: II. The role of connexin 32

The objective of this study was to determine whether connexin 32-type gap junctions contribute to the "contact effect" in follicular thyrocytes and whether the response is influenced by radiation quality. Our previous studies demonstrated that early-passage follicular cultures of Fischer rat thyroid cells express functional connexin 32 gap junctions, with later-passage cultures expressing a truncated nonfunctional form of the protein. This model allowed us to assess the role of connexin 32 in radiation responsiveness without relying solely on chemical manipulation of gap junctions. The survival curves generated after gamma irradiation revealed that early-passage follicular cultures had significantly lower values of alpha (0.04 Gy(-1)) than later-passage cultures (0.11 Gy(-1)) (P < 0.0001, n = 12). As an additional way to determine whether connexin 32 was contributing to the difference in survival, cultures were treated with heptanol, resulting in higher alpha values, with early-passage cultures (0.10 Gy(-1)) nearly equivalent to untreated late-passage cultures (0.11 Gy(-1)) (P > 0.1, n = 9). This strongly suggests that the presence of functional connexin 32-type gap junctions was contributing to radiation resistance in gamma-irradiated thyroid follicles. Survival curves from proton-irradiated cultures had alpha values that were not significantly different whether cells expressed functional connexin 32 (0.10 Gy(-1)), did not express connexin 32 (0.09 Gy(-1)), or were down-regulated (early-passage plus heptanol, 0.09 Gy(-1); late-passage plus heptanol, 0.12 Gy(-1)) (P > 0.1, n = 19). Thus, for proton irradiation, the presence of connexin 32-type gap junctional channels did not influence their radiosensitivity. Collectively, the data support the following conclusions. (1) The lower alpha values from the gamma-ray survival curves of the early-passage cultures suggest greater repair efficiency and/or enhanced resistance to radiation-induced damage, coincident with the expression of connexin 32-type gap junctions. (2) The increased sensitivity of FRTL-5 cells to proton irradiation was independent of their ability to communicate through connexin 32 gap junctions. (3) The fact that the beta components of the survival curves from both gamma rays and proton beams were similar (average 0.022 +/- 0.008 Gy(-2), P > 0.1, n = 39) suggests that at higher doses the loss of viability occurs at a relatively constant rate and is independent of radiation quality and the presence of functional gap junctions.

Non-NASA Center↗

NASA NTRS1998

Analysis of mutant quantity and quality in human-hamster hybrid AL and AL-179 cells exposed to 137Cs-gamma or HZE-Fe ions

We measured the number of mutants and the kinds of mutations induced by 137Cs-gamma and by HZE-Fe (56Fe [600 MeV/amu, LET = 190 KeV/micrometer) in standard AL human hamster hybrid cells and in a new variant hybrid, AL-179. We found that HZE-Fe was more mutagenic than 137Cs-gamma per unit dose (about 1.6 fold), but was slightly less mutagenic per mean lethal dose, DO, at both the S1 and hprt- loci of AL cells. On the other hand, HZE-Fe induced about nine fold more complex S1- mutants than 137Cs-gamma rays, 28% vs 3%. 137Cs-gamma rays induced about twice as many S1- mutants and hprt-mutants in AL-179 as in AL cells, and about nine times more of the former were complex, and potentially unstable kinds of mutations.

NASA Discipline Radiation Health↗

NASA NTRS2001

Gamma-ray mutagenesis studies in a new human-hamster hybrid, A(L)CD59(+/-), which has two human chromosomes 11 but is hemizygous for the CD59 gene

Kraemer, S. M., Vannais, D. B., Kronenberg, A., Ueno, A. and Waldren, C. A. Gamma-Ray Mutagenesis Studies in a New Human-Hamster Hybrid, A(L)CD59(+/-), which has Two Human Chromosomes 11 but is Hemizygous for the CD59 Gene. Radiat. Res. 156, 10-19 (2001).We have developed a human-CHO hybrid cell line, named A(L)CD59(+/-), which has two copies of human chromosome 11 but is hemizygous for the CD59 gene and the CD59 cell surface antigen that it encodes. Our previous studies used the A(L) and A(L)C hybrids that respectively contain one or two sets of CHO chromosomes plus a single copy of human chromosome 11. The CD59 gene at 11p13.5 and the CD59 antigen encoded by it are the principal markers used in our mutagenesis studies. The hybrid A(L)CD59(+/-) contains two copies of human chromosome 11, only one of which carries the CD59 gene. The incidence of CD59 (-) mutants (formerly called S1(-)) induced by (137)Cs gamma rays is about fivefold greater in A(L)CD59(+/-) cells than in A(L) cells. Evidence is presented that this increase in mutant yield is due to the increased induction of certain classes of large chromosomal mutations that are lethal to A(L) cells but are tolerated in the A(L)CD59(+/-) hybrid. In addition, significantly more of the CD59 (-) mutants induced by (137)Cs gamma rays in A(L)CD59(+/-) cells display chromosomal instability than in A(L) cells. On the other hand, the yield of gamma-ray-induced CD59 (-) mutants in A(L)CD59(+/-) cells is half that of the A(L)C hybrid, which also tolerates very large mutations but has only one copy of human chromosome 11. We interpret the difference in mutability as evidence that repair processes involving the homologous chromosomes 11 play a role in determining mutant yields. The A(L)CD59(+/-) hybrid provides a useful new tool for quantifying mutagenesis and shedding light on mechanisms of genetic instability and mutagenesis.

NASA Discipline Radiation Health↗

NASA NTRS2013

Star-jet Interactions and Gamma-ray Outbursts from 3C454.3

We propose a model to explain the ultra-bright GeV gamma-ray flares observed from the blazar 3C454.3. The model is based on the concept of a relativistic jet interacting with compact gas condensations produced when a star (a red giant) crosses the jet close to the central black hole. The study includes an analytical treatment of the evolution of the envelope lost by the star within the jet, and calculations of the related high-energy radiation. The model readily explains the day-long that varies on timescales of hours, GeV gamma-ray flare from 3C454.3, observed during 2010 November on top of a plateau lasting weeks. In the proposed scenario, the plateau state is caused by a strong wind generated by the heating of the stellar atmosphere due to nonthermal particles accelerated at the jet-star interaction region. The flare itself could be produced by a few clouds of matter lost by the red giant after the initial impact of the jet. In the framework of the proposed scenario, the observations constrain the key model parameters of the source, including the mass of the central black hole: Blackhole Mass is approx. equal to 10(exp 9) Solar Mass, the total jet power: L(j) is approx. equal to 10(exp 48) erg s(exp −1), and the Doppler factor of the gamma-ray emitting clouds: Delta is approx. equal to 20. Whereas we do not specify the particle acceleration mechanisms, the potential gamma-ray production processes are discussed and compared in the context of the proposed model.We argue that synchrotron radiation of protons has certain advantages compared to other radiation channels of directlyaccelerated electrons. An injected proton distribution varies as E(exp −1) or harder below the relevant energies would be favored to alleviate the tight energetic constraints and to avoid the violation of the observational low-energy constraints.

radiation mechanisms↗