Confronting observations of VHE gamma-ray blazar flares with reconnection models
Loading...
Access rights
openAccess
URL
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
A4 Artikkeli konferenssijulkaisussa
This publication is imported from Aalto University research portal.
View publication in the Research portal (opens in new window)
View/Open full text file from the Research portal (opens in new window)
Other link related to publication (opens in new window)
View publication in the Research portal (opens in new window)
View/Open full text file from the Research portal (opens in new window)
Other link related to publication (opens in new window)
Date
2022-03-18
Department
Major/Subject
Mcode
Degree programme
Language
en
Pages
8
Series
Proceedings of Science, Volume 395
Abstract
Several models have been suggested to explain the fast gamma-ray variability observed in blazars, but its origin is still debated. One scenario is magnetic reconnection, a process that can efficiently convert magnetic energy to energy of relativistic particles accelerated in the reconnection layer. In our study, we compare results from state-of-the-art particle-in-cell simulations with observations of blazars at Very High Energy (VHE, E > 100 GeV) gamma-rays. Our goal is to test our model predictions on fast gamma-ray variability with data and to constrain the parameter space of the model, such as the magnetic field strength of the unreconnected plasma and the reconnection layer orientation in the blazar jet. For this first comparison, we used the remarkably well-sampled VHE gamma-ray light curve of Mrk 421 observed with the MAGIC and VERITAS telescopes in 2013. The simulated VHE light curves were generated using the observable parameters of Mrk 421, such as the jet power, bulk Lorentz factor, and the jet viewing angle, and sampled as real data. Our results pave the way for future model-to-data comparison with next-generation Cherenkov telescopes, which will help further constrain the different variability models.Description
Publisher Copyright: © Copyright owned by the author(s).
Keywords
Other note
Citation
Jormanainen, J, Hovatta, T, Lindfors, E, Christie, I, Petropoulou, M & Liodakis, I 2022, ' Confronting observations of VHE gamma-ray blazar flares with reconnection models ', Proceedings of Science, vol. 395, 867 . https://doi.org/10.22323/1.395.0867