Joint FWF-ARIS Research Project
"Identification of Cosmic Ray Sources Amongst Jetted Active Galaxies"

Welcome to the Webpage of the Joint FWF-ARIS Research Project
"Identification of Cosmic Ray Sources Amongst Jetted Active Galaxies"

Cosmic Rays (CRs) are energetic, mostly charged particles of cosmic origin. We have developed in this project dedicated methods to determine the extent to which ultra-high-energy (UHE, ≥ 10 EeV) CRs originate from jetted active galactic nuclei (AGN).

Recent measurements favor conventional scenarios of UHECR production within astrophysical sites. Prominent jet outflows in powerful AGN provide suitable conditions for charged particle acceleration up to UHEs and are thus considered prime contributors to the observed UHECR flux. During CR acceleration, hadronic interactions occur producing photons and neutrinos. As neutral messengers, these particles can provide information about the CR source location and the physical conditions at the production sites. In contrast, charged CRs suffer from loss of directional information due to deflections in cosmic magnetic fields. To achieve the project goal, we employed a multi-messenger (MM), multi-wavelength (MWL) approach, incorporating measurements of 1) UHECRs by the Pierre Auger Observatory, 2) gamma-rays of high energy (≥ 100 MeV) by the Fermi-LAT detector and very-high-energy (VHE, ≥ 30 GeV) gamma-rays by ground-based Cherenkov telescopes, and 3) VHE neutrinos by the IceCube experiment.

In the projects multistep procedure, nearby AGN were first classified according to their capability to accelerate particles to UHEs. For this purpose, MWL measurements of AGN electromagnetic spectra were combined with emission models to build a list of suitable AGN candidates for UHECR acceleration. At this initial step, we have found that recently discovered, relatively low-luminosity, but numerous Fanaroff-Riley type 0 jetted AGN (FR0 radio galaxies) are likely candidates for contributing to the cosmic-ray flux up to the highest energies.

Pierre Auger Observatory data indicate that the CR flux composition at extreme energies trends from light towards intermediate-mass nuclei. Consequently, the Austrian project team (led by Dr. Anita Reimer, Universität Innsbruck) extended state-of-the-art AGN emission models to account for injection, transport, and radiative losses of particle distributions with heavy nuclei composition. The Slovenian project team (led by Dr. Serguei Vorobiov, University of Nova Gorica) developed and performed subsequent simulations of UHECR propagation from FR0 galaxies to Earth for various cosmic magnetic field configurations. The resulting UHECR energy spectrum and mass composition expected at Earth have been cross-correlated with Auger data. Photon and neutrino emission signatures were also predicted, and their relation to MM data was investigated. Finally, characteristic UHECR features stemming from FR0 AGN jets, which are verifiable by the near-future Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO), were evaluated.

Combining the expertise of project teams from Slovenia and Austria, along with contributions from other international partners, has yielded valuable results towards the identification of UHECR sources, including the first comprehensive study of recently discovered FR0 radio galaxies as sources of extreme-energy particles.

Project Logo
Propagation to Earth of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays, photons and neutrinos originating from the jet of an active galaxy.

More details regarding our research project team, project implementation and results can be found in the webpage sections linked in the menu above.

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Project team

The international scientific team of the project Identification of cosmic ray sources amongst jetted active galaxies is based at the Universität Innsbruck (Austria) and the University of Nova Gorica (Slovenia). It is further supported by numerous world-leading scientists from Italy and Poland.

University of Nova Gorica

Project team member Role Contact
Prof. Dr. Serguei Vorobiov Project Co-PI Email
Assist.-Prof. Dr. Jon Paul Lundquist (since 17/2/2020) Researcher Email
Prof. Dr. Danilo Zavrtanik Researcher
Prof. Dr. Samo Stanič Researcher
Prof. Dr. Gabrijela Zaharijas Researcher
Lukas Zehrer (until 30/9/2021) Young researcher
Dr. Lili Yang (until 31/8/2018) Researcher

Universität Innsbruck

Project team member Role Contact
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Anita Reimer Project Co-PI Email
Dr. Lukas Merten (until 12/2021; now at RUB) Researcher Email
Paolo Da Vela, PhD (until 3/2023; now at INAF Bologna) Researcher Email
Margot Boughelilba Young researcher Email

Collaboration Partners

Country Institution Collaboration Partner Email
Austria University of Innsbruck / DP DOCC Margot Boughelilba (until 9/2023) margot.boughelilba[at]uibk.ac.at
Italy Astronomical Observatory of Brera Dr. Fabrizio Tavecchio fabrizio.tavecchio[at]inaf.it
Italy Astronomical Observatory of Brera Prof. Gabriele Ghisellini gabriele.ghisellini[at]brera.inaf.it
Italy Astronomical Observatory of Brera Dr. Chiara Righi chiara.righi[at]inaf.it
Italy Astronomical Observatory of Brera Dr. Giacomo Bonnoli giacomo.bonnoli[at]inaf.it
Italy Astronomical Observatory of Brera Paolo Da Vela, PhD (since 6/2023) paolo.davela[at]inaf.it
Poland University of Lodz Prof. Wlodek Bednarek bednar[at]uni.lodz.pl
Germany Rhur University Bochum (RUB) Dr. Lukas Merten (since 1/2022) lukas.merten[at]rub.de

Project meetings

To strengthen the collaboration between all members of the project, in addition to monthly videocalls, bi-annual meetings in person are held alternatively in Austria and Slovenia. At all these meetings (listed on this page), not only the PIs and their groups but all international partners gather to discuss the project and its progress.

Hybrid meeting on 28-30 June 2023, hosted in Innsbruck

The meeting schedule can be found here.

F2F Summer 2023
The project team during the meeting in June 2023 in Innsbruck, on the roof of the Institute for Astro- and Particle Physics.

Hybrid meeting on 14-16 December 2022, hosted in Vipava

The meeting schedule can be found here.

F2F Winter 2022
The project team during the meeting in December 2022 in Vipava, at the Vipava river sources located next to the meeting venue.

Hybrid meeting on 20-22 April 2022, hosted in Innsbruck

The meeting schedule can be found here.

F2F Spring 2022
The project team during the meeting in April 2022 in Innsbruck, on the roof of the Institute for Astro- and Particle Physics.

Hybrid meeting on 20-22 Оctober 2021, hosted in Vipava

The meeting schedule can be found here.

F2F Autumn 2021
The project team during the hybrid meeting in October 2021.

Virtual Face-2-Face meeting on 25-26 May 2021, hosted in Innsbruck

The meeting schedule can be found here.

F2F Spring 2021
The project team during the virtual face-2-face meeting in May 2021.

Virtual Face-2-Face meeting on 29-30 September 2020, hosted in Nova Gorica

The meeting schedule can be found here.

F2F Autumn 2020
The project team during the virtual face-2-face meeting in September 2020.

Virtual Face-2-Face meeting on 12-13 May 2020, hosted in Nova Gorica

The meeting schedule can be found here.

F2F Spring 2020
The project team during the virtual face-2-face meeting in May 2020.

Face-2-Face meeting on 28-30 October 2019, hosted in Innsbruck

The meeting schedule can be found here.

F2F Autumn 2019
The project team at the kick off meeting in Innsbruck.

Videocalls

Publications

This page lists scientific articles published in the context of the project Identification of cosmic ray sources amongst jetted active galaxies. Please contact the corresponding author if you have questions concerning a specific publication.

Journal Articles

Authors Title Journal Year DOI arXiv
J.P. Lundquist et al. Combined Fit of Spectrum and Composition for FR0 Radio-galaxy-emitted Ultra–high energy Cosmic Rays with Resulting Secondary Photons and Neutrinos ApJ 2024 10.3847/1538-4357/ad8cd7 2407.06961
M. Boughelilba et al. On the subparsec-scale core composition of FR0 radio galaxies ApJL 2023 10.3847/2041-8213/acf83c 2310.06398
M. Boughelilba et al. Lepto-hadronic jet-disk model for the multiwavelength SED of M87 ApJ 2022 10.3847/1538-4357/ac8e64 2208.14756
L. Merten et al. Scrutinizing FR0 radio galaxies as ultra-high-energy cosmic ray source candidates Astroparticle Physics 2021 10.1016/j.astropartphys.2021.102564 2102.01087

Conference Proceedings

Authors Title Conference Year DOI arXiv
J.P. Lundquist et al. Investigation of multi-messenger properties of FR0 Radio Galaxy emitted
ultra-high-energy cosmic rays		 TAUP2023 2023 PoS-441-134
A. Reimer et al. Low-luminosity AGN as particle mutli-messenger sources TAUP2023 2023 PoS-441-119
M. Boughelilba et al. Spine-sheath jet model for low-luminosity AGNs 38th ICRC 2023 PoS-444-958 2308.10596
L. Merten et al. Efficient modeling of heavy cosmic-ray propagation in evolving astrophysical environments 38th ICRC 2023 PoS-444-1466 2308.09518
J.P. Lundquist et al. The UHECR-FR0 radio galaxy connection: a multi-messenger study
of energy spectra/composition emission and intergalactic magnetic field propagation		 38th ICRC 2023 PoS-444-1512 2308.10803
A. Reimer et al. CR-ENTREES -- Cosmic-Ray ENergy TRansport in timE-Evolving astrophysical Settings 38th ICRC 2023 PoS-444-1481 2309.04328
M. Boughelilba et al. Multiwavelength emission of FR0 radio galaxies at the subparsec scale SF2A meeting 2023 2023sf2a-129B
M. Boughelilba et al. A lepto-hadronic jet-flow model for the multiwavelength SED of M87 SF2A meeting 2022 2022sf2a-35B
J.P. Lundquist et al. Extrapolating FR0 radio galaxy source properties
from propagation of multi-messenger ultra-high energy cosmic rays		 37th ICRC 2021 PoS-395-989
L. Merten et al. FR-0 jetted active galaxies: extending the zoo of candidate sites for UHECR acceleration 37th ICRC 2021 PoS-395-986 2107.13278

Talks/Posters

Presenter Title Event Date Slides/Poster
J.P. Lundquist Multi-Messenger Insights into Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Rays from FR0 Radio Galaxies: Emission Spectrum, Composition, and Secondary Photons and Neutrinos UHECR 2024, Malargüe (AR) 11/2024 *
J.P. Lundquist Investigation of multi-messenger properties of FR0 Radio Galaxy emitted ultra-high-energy cosmic rays TAUP 2023, Vienna (AT) 08-09/2023 *
A. Reimer Low-luminosity jetted AGN as particle multi-messenger sources TAUP 2023, Vienna (AT) 08-09/2023 *
A. Reimer Low-luminosity jetted AGN as particle multi-messenger sources TeVPA 2023, Napoli (IT) 09/2023 *
J.P. Lundquist The UHECR-FR0 radio galaxy connection: a multi-messenger study of energy spectra/composition emission and intergalactic magnetic field propagation 38th ICRC, Nagoya (JP) 07/2023
M. Boughelilba Spine-sheath jet model for low-luminosity AGNs 38th ICRC, Nagoya (JP) 07/2023
L. Merten Efficient modeling of heavy cosmic-ray propagation in evolving astrophysical environments 38th ICRC, Nagoya (JP) 07/2023
A. Reimer CR-ENTREES -- Cosmic-Ray ENergy TRansport in timE-Evolving astrophysical Settings 38th ICRC, Nagoya (JP) 07/2023
M. Boughelilba Multiwavelength emission of FR0 radio galaxies at the subparsec scale SF2A meeting, Strasbourg (FR) 06/2023 *
A. Reimer Cosmic rays in jets of active galactic nuclei Astroparticle physics seminar, Universität Hamburg (DE) 02/2023 *
M. Boughelilba Lepto-hadronic jet-flow model for the multi-wavelength SED of M87 31st Texas Symposium, Prague (CZ) 09/2022 *
A. Reimer Leptonic and hadronic photon emission models for high-energy sources PASTO, Rome (IT) 09/2022 *
S. Vorobiov Recent results from the Pierre Auger Observatory IPA 2022, Vienna (AT) 09/2022 *
M. Boughelilba A lepto-hadronic jet-flow model for the multi-wavelength SED of M87 SF2A meeting, Besançon (FR) 06/2022 *
L. Merten UHECR acceleration in FR0 jetted active galaxies Joint ÖPG/SPS meeting, Innsbruck (AT) 09/2021 *
J.P. Lundquist Extrapolating FR0 radio galaxy source properties from propagation of multi-messenger ultra-high energy cosmic rays 37th ICRC, Berlin (DE) 07/2021 **
L. Merten FR0 jetted active galaxies: extending the zoo of candidate sites for UHECR acceleration 37th ICRC, Berlin (DE) 07/2021 **
L. Merten UHECRs from FR0 radio galaxies – Acceleration.Loss.Escape. RAPP Center seminar, Bochum (DE) 02/2021 *
L. Merten UHECRs acceleration in FR0 radio galaxies YITP, Kyoto (JP) 12/2020 *

* Slides/poster are available upon e-mail request to the presenter.

** Slides/poster and recording are available upon e-mail request to the presenter.

Project-related publications

Authors Title Journal Year DOI arXiv
A. Abdul Halim et al. Impact of the Magnetic Horizon on the Interpretation of the Pierre Auger Observatory Spectrum and Composition Data JCAP 2024 10.1088/1475-7516/2024/07/094 2404.03533
N. Khatiya et al. Characterizing the γ-ray emission from the FR0 radio galaxies ApJ 2024 10.3847/1538-4357/ad534c 2310.19888
A. Abdul Halim et al. Constraining models for the origin of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays with a novel combined analysis of arrival directions, spectrum, and composition data measured at the Pierre Auger Observatory JCAP 2024 10.1088/1475-7516/2024/01/022 2305.16693
A. Abdul Halim et al. Constraining the sources of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays across and above the ankle with the spectrum and composition data measured at the Pierre Auger Observatory JCAP 2023 10.1088/1475-7516/2023/05/024 2211.02857
R. Alves Batista et al. CRPropa 3.2 - an advanced framework for high-energy particle propagation in extragalactic and galactic spaces JCAP 2022 10.1088/1475-7516/2022/09/035 2208.00107
P. Abreu et al. A search for photons with energies above 2 × 1017 eV using hybrid data from the low-energy extensions of the Pierre Auger Observatory ApJ 2022 10.3847/1538-4357/ac7393 2205.14864
M. Zacharias et al. EXHALE-JET: an extended hadro-leptonic jet model for blazars - I. Code description and initial results MNRAS 2022 10.1093/mnras/stac754 2203.07956
A. Aab et al. Probing the origin of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays with neutrinos in the EeV energy range using the Pierre Auger Observatory JCAP 2019 10.1088/1475-7516/2019/10/022 1904.01426
A. Acharyya et al. Monte Carlo studies for the optimisation of the Cherenkov Telescope Array layout Astroparticle Physics 2019 10.1016/j.astropartphys.2019.04.001 1906.07422
A. Reimer et al. Cascading from neutrino-emitting blazars: the case of TXS 0506+056 ApJ 2019 10.3847/1538-4357/ab2bff 1812.05654

Funding agencies

This project has been jointly funded by the Austrian Science Fund - FWF (project no. I 4144-N27) and the Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency - ARIS (project no. N1-0111).

In addition, our international research partners acknowledge funding by their home institutes:

Lukas Merten acknowledges support from the DFG within the Collaborative Research Center SFB1491 "Cosmic Interacting Matters - From Source to Signal".

Margot Boughelilba receives funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 847476. The views and opinions expressed on this webpage do not necessarily reflect those of the European Commission.

Giacomo Bonnoli acknowledges financial support from the State Agency for Research of the Spanish MCIU through the "Center of Excellence Severo Ochoa" award to the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (SEV-2017-0709) and from the Spanish "Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación” (MICINN) through grant PID2019-107847RB-C44.

Acknowledgement

We acknowledge extensive computing support provided by the Slovenian National Supercomputing Network.

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