Neutrinos and gamma rays from beta decays in an active galactic nucleus NGC 1068 jet

Koichiro Yasuda, Yoshiyuki Inoue, Alexander Kusenko

Published 2024-05-08Version 1

We show that TeV neutrinos detected from the nearby active galaxy NGC 1068 can be explained by the beta decays of neutrons produced in photodisintegration of nuclei on ultraviolet photons in the jet. The photodisintergation of nuclei occurs at energies above a few PeV, which explains the 1-100 TeV energies of the observed neutrinos. The gamma-ray flux accompanying the beta decays is expected to be much lower than the neutrino flux, and it agrees well with the gamma-ray observations of NGC 1068. This scenario can be applicable to other jetted Seyfert galaxies such as NGC 4151. The flavor ratio studies could be a test of this beta decay jet scenario for gamma-ray deficit neutrino sources.