Emission from astrophysical plasma ejections coming from black hole X-ray binary systems

What is it about?

This work studies the astrophysical relativistic plasma ejections (jets) coming from binary stellar systems that involve a black hole (Black hole X-ray binary systems, BHXRBs). The plasma consists of a lepto-hadron particle combination that interacts and collides with each other, producing secondary particles such as pions, muons, neutrinos, and gamma-ray photons. We calculate the secondary particle distributions and the gamma-ray spectra emitted from distinct jet zonal regions by implementing mainly a hadronic jet model. In addition, we adjust our calculations to involve photon absorption by lower-energy ambient radiation fields emanating from the system's accretion disk and donor star.

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Why is it important?

Gamma rays and neutrinos emitted from nearby BHXRBs can reach the Earth and be detected by susceptible operating systems. Their detection can provide valuable information about the mechanisms of acceleration, cooling, and emission of the associated particles and the formation of the jets themselves. It should be noted that X-ray binary systems (XRBs) constitute scaled-down versions of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) that are located at the center of nearly every galaxy. That translates to a high probability of them exhibiting the same physical phenomena and mechanisms.