TY - JOUR
T1 - Neutrino flux predictions for known Galactic microquasars
AU - Distefano, C
AU - Guetta, D
AU - Waxman, E
AU - Levinson, A
PY - 2002/8/10
Y1 - 2002/8/10
N2 - It has been proposed recently that Galactic microquasars may be prodigious emitters of TeV neutrinos that can be detected by upcoming km2 neutrino telescopes. In this paper we consider a sample of identified microquasars and microquasar candidates for which available data enable rough determination of the jet parameters. By employing the parameters inferred from radio observations of various jet ejection events, we determine the neutrino fluxes that should have been produced during these events by photopion production in the jet. Despite the large uncertainties in our analysis, we demonstrate that in several of the sources considered the neutrino flux at Earth, produced in events similar to those observed, would exceed the detection threshold of a km2 neutrino detector. The class of microquasars may contain also sources with bulk Lorentz factors larger than those characteristic of the sample considered here, directed along our line of sight. Such sources, which may be very difficult to resolve at radio wavelengths and hence may be difficult to identify as microquasar candidates, may emit neutrinos with fluxes significantly larger than those typically obtained in the present analysis. These sources may eventually be identified through their neutrino and gamma-ray emission.
AB - It has been proposed recently that Galactic microquasars may be prodigious emitters of TeV neutrinos that can be detected by upcoming km2 neutrino telescopes. In this paper we consider a sample of identified microquasars and microquasar candidates for which available data enable rough determination of the jet parameters. By employing the parameters inferred from radio observations of various jet ejection events, we determine the neutrino fluxes that should have been produced during these events by photopion production in the jet. Despite the large uncertainties in our analysis, we demonstrate that in several of the sources considered the neutrino flux at Earth, produced in events similar to those observed, would exceed the detection threshold of a km2 neutrino detector. The class of microquasars may contain also sources with bulk Lorentz factors larger than those characteristic of the sample considered here, directed along our line of sight. Such sources, which may be very difficult to resolve at radio wavelengths and hence may be difficult to identify as microquasar candidates, may emit neutrinos with fluxes significantly larger than those typically obtained in the present analysis. These sources may eventually be identified through their neutrino and gamma-ray emission.
KW - acceleration of particles
KW - neutrinos
KW - X-rays : binaries
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0010951618&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1086/341144
DO - 10.1086/341144
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SN - 0004-637X
VL - 575
SP - 378
EP - 383
JO - Astrophysical Journal
JF - Astrophysical Journal
IS - 1
ER -