J 2020

Supermassive Black Holes as Possible Sources of Ultrahigh-energy Cosmic Rays

TURSUNOV, Arman, Zdeněk STUCHLÍK, Martin KOLOŠ, Naresh DADHICH, Bobomurat AHMEDOV et. al.

Basic information

Original name

Supermassive Black Holes as Possible Sources of Ultrahigh-energy Cosmic Rays

Authors

TURSUNOV, Arman (860 Uzbekistan, belonging to the institution), Zdeněk STUCHLÍK (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution), Martin KOLOŠ (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution), Naresh DADHICH (356 India) and Bobomurat AHMEDOV (860 Uzbekistan)

Edition

Astrophysical Journal, 2020, 0004-637X

Other information

Language

English

Type of outcome

Článek v odborném periodiku

Field of Study

10308 Astronomy

Country of publisher

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Confidentiality degree

není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství

References:

RIV identification code

RIV/47813059:19630/20:A0000027

Organization unit

Institute of physics in Opava

UT WoS

000559792800001

Keywords in English

PENROSE PROCESS; FORCE-FREE; EXTRACTION; ENERGETICS; EFFICIENCY

Tags

International impact, Reviewed

Links

EF16_027/0008521, research and development project. GB14-37086G, research and development project.
Změněno: 31/3/2022 10:33, Mgr. Pavlína Jalůvková

Abstract

V originále

The production and acceleration mechanisms of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) of energy >10(20) eV, clearly beyond the GZK cutoff limit, remain unclear, which points to the exotic nature of the phenomena. Recent observations of extragalactic neutrinos may indicate that the source of UHECRs is an extragalactic supermassive black hole (SMBH). We demonstrate that ultraefficient energy extraction from a rotating SMBH driven by the magnetic Penrose process (MPP) could indeed fit the bill. We envision ionization of neutral particles, such as neutron beta decay, skirting close to the black hole horizon that energizes protons to over 10(20) eV for an SMBH of mass 10(9)M(circle dot) and magnetic field 10(4). G. Applied to the Galactic center SMBH, we have a proton energy of order approximate to 10(15.6) eV that coincides with the knee of the cosmic-ray spectra. We show that large gamma(z) factors of high-energy particles along the escaping directions occur only in the presence of an induced charge of the black hole, which is known as the Wald charge in the case of a uniform magnetic field. It is remarkable that the process requires neither an extended acceleration zone nor fine-tuning of accreting-matter parameters. Further, this leads to certain verifiable constraints on the SMBH's mass and magnetic field strength as the source of UHECRs. This clearly makes the ultraefficient regime of the MPP one of the most promising mechanisms for fueling the UHECR powerhouse.