Enhancing the spectral hardening of cosmic TeV photons by the mixing with axion-like particles in the magnetised cosmic web [HEAP]

http://arxiv.org/abs/1703.07314


Large-scale extragalactic magnetic fields may induce conversions between very-high-energy photons and axion-like particles (ALPs), thereby shielding the photons from absorption on the extragalactic background light. However, in simplified “cell” models, used so far to represent extragalactic magnetic fields, this mechanism would be strongly suppressed by current astrophysical bounds. Here we consider realistic models of extragalactic magnetic fields obtained from large-scale cosmological simulations. Such simulated magnetic fields would have large enhancement in the filaments of matter. As a result, photon-ALP conversions would produce a significant spectral hardening for cosmic TeV photons. This effect would be probed with the upcoming Cherenkov Telescope Array detector. This possible detection would give a unique chance to perform a tomography of the magnetised cosmic web with ALPs.

Read this paper on arXiv…

D. Montanino, F. Vazza, A. Mirizzi, et. al.
Wed, 22 Mar 2017
9/65

Comments: 10 pages, 7 figures