Center for Astrophysics Research and Technologies Seminar Series
Diagnostics of Leptonic vs. Hadronic Emission Models for Blazars
Presented by Markus Böttcher (CSR)
Abstract: The nature of the particles responsible for the high-energy emission in blazars is still under debate. Both leptonic models (in which electrons and/or electron-positron pairs produce gamma-rays via Compton scattering) and leptonic models (in which ultrarelativistic protons produce gamma-rays via proton synchrotron radiation and photo-pion production) are currently still viable. I will review the salient features of leptonic and hadronic blazar emission models and describe observational diagnostics to distinguish between these two scenarios. Possible diagnostics include neutrino emission, which is only expected in hadronic scenarios; variability patterns, where uncorrelated high-energy vs. synchrotron variability would favor hadronic scenarios; and high-energy polarization, where a high degree of X-ray and gamma-ray polarization would also point towards hadronic emission scenarios. These diagnostics will be discussed in the context of the new and future generation of ground-based gamma-ray observatories (H.E.S.S.-II and CTA), as well as satellite-borne X-ray polarimeters and Fermi-LAT.
2:00 pm, Thursday, December 5, 2013
PAIS-2540, PAIS
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