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Hadronic jet models today
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 February 2011
Abstract
The matter content of relativistic jets in AGNs is dominated by a mixture of protons, electrons, and positrons. During dissipative events these particles tap a significant portion of the internal and/or kinetic energy of the jet and convert it into electromagnetic radiation. While leptons – even those with only mildly relativistic energies – can radiate efficiently, protons need to be accelerated up to energies exceeding 1016–19 eV to dissipate radiatively a significant amount of energy via either trigerring pair cascades or direct synchrotron emission. Here I review various constraints imposed on the role of hadronic non-adiabatic cooling processes in shaping the high energy spectra of blazars. It will be argued that protons, despite being efficiently accelerated and presumably playing a crucial role in jet dynamics and dissipation of the jet kinetic energy to the internal energy of electrons and positrons, are more likely to remain radiatively passive in AGN jets.
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- Type
- Contributed Papers
- Information
- Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 6 , Symposium S275: Jets at all Scales , September 2010 , pp. 59 - 67
- Copyright
- Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2011
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