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High-energy neutrinos from merging stellar-mass black holes in active galactic nuclei accretion disc

  • Jin Ping Zhu

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

Abstract

A population of binary stellar-mass black hole (BBH) mergers are believed to occur embedded in the accretion disc of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). In this Letter , we demonstrate that the jets from these BBH mergers can propagate collimatedly within the disc atmosphere along with a forward shock and a reverse shock forming at the jet head. Efficient proton acceleration by these shocks is usually expected before the breakout, leading to the production of TeV -PeV neutrinos through interactions between these protons and electron-radiating photons via photon-meson production. AGN BBH mergers occurring in the outer regions of the disc are more likely to produce more powerful neutrino bursts. Taking the host AGN properties of the potential GW190521 electromagnetic (EM) counterpart as an example, one expects ≲ 1 neutrino events detectable by IceCube if the jet is on-axis and the radial location of the merger is R ≲ 10 5 R g , where R g is the gravitational radius of the supermassive BH. Neutrino bursts from AGN BBH mergers could be detected by IceCube following the observation of gra vitational wa ves (GWs), serving as precursor signals before the detection of EM breakout signals. AGN BBH mergers are potential target sources for future joint GW, neutrino, and EM multi-messenger observations.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)L88-L95
Number of pages8
JournalMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Volume528
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Feb 2024

Keywords

  • black hole mergers
  • Galaxy: disc
  • neutrinos
  • stars: jets
  • ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery

    Bailes, M. (Primary Chief Investigator (PCI)), McClelland, D. E. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Levin, Y. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Blair, D. G. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Scott, S. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Ottaway, D. J. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Melatos, A. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Veitch, P. J. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Wen, L. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Shaddock, D. A. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Slagmolen, B. J. J. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Zhao, C. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Evans, R. J. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Ju, L. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Galloway, D. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Thrane, E. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Hurley, J. R. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Coward, D. M. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Cooke, J. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Couch, W. (Partner Investigator (PI)), Hobbs, G. (Partner Investigator (PI)), Reitze, D. (Partner Investigator (PI)), Rowan, S. (Partner Investigator (PI)), Cai, R. (Partner Investigator (PI)), Adhikari, R. X. (Partner Investigator (PI)), Danzmann, K. (Partner Investigator (PI)), Mavalvala, N. (Partner Investigator (PI)), Kulkarni, S. R. (Partner Investigator (PI)), Kramer, M. (Partner Investigator (PI)), Branchesi, M. (Partner Investigator (PI)), Gehrels, N. (Partner Investigator (PI)), Weinstein, A. J. R. (Partner Investigator (PI)), Steeghs, D. (Partner Investigator (PI)), Bock, D. (Partner Investigator (PI)) & Lasky, P. (Chief Investigator (CI))

    Monash University – Internal University Contribution, Monash University – Internal Department Contribution

    1/01/1731/03/24

    Project: Research

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