The diffuse gamma-ray flux from clusters of galaxies
Saqib Hussain, Rafael Alves Batista, E. M. de Gouveia Dal Pino, Klaus Dolag
Abstract
Abstract The origin of the diffuse gamma-ray background (DGRB), the one that remains after subtracting all individual sources from observed gamma-ray sky, is unknown. The DGRB possibly encompasses contributions from different source populations such as star-forming galaxies, starburst galaxies, active galactic nuclei, gamma-ray bursts, or galaxy clusters. Here, we combine cosmological magnetohydrodynamical simulations of clusters of galaxies with the propagation of cosmic rays (CRs) using Monte Carlo simulations, in the redshift range z ≤ 5.0, and show that the integrated gamma-ray flux from clusters can contribute up to 100% of the DGRB flux observed by Fermi-LAT above 100 GeV, for CRs spectral indices α = 1.5 − 2.5 and energy cutoffs $${E}_{\max }=1{0}^{16}-1{0}^{17}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>E</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>max</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1</mml:mn> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>0</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>16</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1</mml:mn> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>0</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>17</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> </mml:math> eV. The flux is dominated by clusters with masses 10 13 ≲ M / M ⊙ ≲ 10 15 and redshift z ≲ 0.3. Our results also predict the potential observation of high-energy gamma rays from clusters by experiments like the High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC), the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO), and potentially the upcoming Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA).