Gamma-ray emission in the Seyfert galaxy NGC 4151: Investigating the role of jet and coronal activities

Abstract

Abstract NGC 4151, a nearby Seyfert galaxy, has recently been reported to emit gamma-rays in the GeV range, posing an intriguing astrophysical mystery. The star formation rate of NGC 4151 is too low to explain the observed GeV flux, but the galaxy is known for its coronal activity in X-ray and jet activity in radio. We propose that either the combination of these two activities or the jet activity alone can account for the gamma-ray spectrum. An energy-dependent variability search will allow one to distinguish between the two scenarios, as the coronal component can only contribute at energies of ≲1 GeV. Our analysis also indicates that it might still be difficult to see coronal neutrinos from the apparently X-ray brightest Seyfert NGC 4151 with current-generation neutrino observatories.