Leptonic Component Research Articles

Multiwavelength spectral modelling of the candidate neutrino blazar PKS 0735+178

ABSTRACT The BL Lac object PKS 0735+178 was in its historic γ-ray brightness state during 2021 December. This period also coincides with the detection of a neutrino event IC 211208A, which was localized close to the vicinity of PKS 0735+178. We carried out detailed γ-ray timing and spectral analysis of the source in three epochs: (a) quiescent state (E1), (b) moderate-activity state (E2), and (c) high-activity state (E3) coincident with the epoch of neutrino detection. During the epoch of neutrino detection (E3), we found the largest variability amplitude of 95 per cent. The γ-ray spectra corresponding to these three epochs are well fit by the power-law model and the source is found to show spectral variations with a softer when brighter trend. In epoch E3, we found the shortest flux doubling/halving time of 5.75 h. Even though the spectral energy distribution in the moderate-activity state and in the high-activity state could be modelled by the one-zone leptonic emission model, the spectral energy distribution in the quiescent state required an additional component of radiation over and above the leptonic component. Here, we show that a photomeson process was needed to explain the excess γ-ray emission in the hundreds of GeV that could not be accounted for by the synchrotron self-Compton process.

The Gamma-Ray Origin of RX J0852.0-4622 Quantifying the Hadronic and Leptonic Components: Further Evidence for the Cosmic-Ray Acceleration in Young Shell-type SNRs

Fukui et al. quantified the hadronic and leptonic gamma-rays in the young TeV gamma-ray shell-type supernova remnant (SNR) RX J1713.7-3946 (RX J1713), and demonstrated that gamma rays are a combination of hadronic and leptonic gamma-ray components with a ratio of ∼6: 4 in gamma-ray counts N g. This discovery, which adopted a new methodology of multi-linear gamma-ray decomposition, was the first quantification of the two gamma-ray components. In the present work, we applied the same methodology to another TeV gamma-ray shell-type SNR RX J0852.0-4622 (RXJ0852) in 3D space characterized by (the interstellar proton column density N p)-(the nonthermal X-ray count N x)-[N g], and quantified the hadronic and leptonic gamma-ray components as having a ratio of ∼5:5 in N g. The present work adopted the fitting of two/three flat planes in 3D space instead of a single flat plane, which allowed suppression of the fitting errors. This quantification indicates that hadronic and leptonic gamma-rays are of the same order of magnitude in these two core-collapse SNRs, verifying the significant hadronic gamma-ray components. We argue that the target interstellar protons, in particular their spatial distribution, are essential in any attempts to identify the type of particles responsible for gamma-ray emission. The present results confirm that cosmic-ray (CR) energy ≲100 TeV is compatible with a scheme in which SNRs are the dominant source of these Galactic CRs.

Nuclear Inelastic Scattering Effect in Spectra of Neutrinos at Regime of Weak Coupling with Matter

We consider an effect of inelastic scattering in nucleon gas on the energy spectra of neutrinos during an evolution weakly coupled with hot and dense magnetized matter of dynamoactive supernovae. At a finite temperature neutrinos exhibit exo-and endoenergetic scattering on magnetized nucleons due to the Gamow–Teller neutral current interaction component. On the basis of an analysis of energy transfer properties and cross-sections due to significant additional energy exchange mechanisms arising in a magnetized nucleon gas we obtain a kinetic equation for the neutrino dynamics. It is shown that the energy transfer value magnitude and coefficient change the sign from positive to negative when the incoming neutrino energy exceeds four times the temperature of the stellar material, and almost independs on the magnetic induction. For realistic stellar parameters such effects lead to an increase in the hardness of the neutrino energy spectra, especially for the heavy lepton component. It is shown that such strengthening of neutrino hard energies is favorable for supernova neutrino observations by Large Volume Neutrino Telescopes.

Galactic diffuse gamma rays meet the PeV frontier

Context. The Tibet ASγ and LHAASO collaborations recently reported the observation of a γ-ray diffuse emission with energy up to the PeV level from the Galactic plane. Aims. We discuss the relevance of non-uniform cosmic-ray transport scenarios and the implications of these results for cosmic-ray physics. Methods. We used the DRAGON and HERMES codes to build high-resolution maps and spectral distributions of that emission for several representative models under the condition that they reproduce a wide set of local cosmic-ray data up to 100 PeV. Results. We show that the energy spectra measured by Tibet ASγ, LHAASO, ARGO-YBJ, and Fermi-LAT in several regions of interest in the sky can all be reasonably described in terms of the emission arising by the Galactic cosmic-ray “sea”. We also show that all our models are compatible with IceTop γ-ray upper limits. Conclusions. We compare the predictions of conventional and space-dependent transport models with those data sets. Although the Fermi-LAT, ARGO-YBJ, and LHAASO preliminary data slightly favor this scenario, due to the still large experimental errors, the poorly known source spectral shape at the highest energies, the potential role of spatial fluctuations in the leptonic component, and a possible larger-than-expected contamination due to unresolved sources, a solid confirmation requires further investigations. We discuss which measurements will be most relevant in order to resolve the remaining degeneracy.

Molecular and Atomic Clouds Associated with the Gamma-Ray Supernova Remnant Puppis A

We have carried out a study of the interstellar medium (ISM) toward the shell-like supernova remnant (SNR) Puppis A using NANTEN CO and ATCA H i data. We synthesized a comprehensive picture of the SNR radiation by combining the ISM data with the gamma-ray and X-ray distributions. The ISM, both atomic and molecular gas, is dense and highly clumpy, and is distributed all around the SNR, but mainly in the northeast. The CO distribution revealed an enhanced line intensity ratio of CO(J = 2–1)/(J = 1–0) transitions as well as CO line broadening, which indicate shock heating/acceleration. The results support the assertion that Puppis A is located at 1.4 kpc, in the Local Arm. The ISM interacting with the SNR has a large mass of ∼104 M ⊙, which is dominated by H i, showing good spatial correspondence with the Fermi-LAT gamma-ray image. This favors a hadronic origin of the gamma-rays, while an additional contribution from a leptonic component is not excluded. The distribution of the X-ray ionization timescales within the shell suggests that the shock front ionized various parts of the ISM at epochs ranging over a few to ten thousand years. We therefore suggest that the age of the SNR is around 104 yr as given by the largest ionization timescale. We estimate the total cosmic-ray energy W p to be 1047 erg, which is well placed in the cosmic-ray escaping phase of an age–W p plot including more than ten SNRs.

Constraints on Hadronic Contributions to LHAASO Sources with Neutrino Observations

Abstract The Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO) detected 12 gamma-ray sources above 100 TeV, which are the possible origins of Galactic cosmic-rays. We summarize the neutrino measurements by IceCube and ANTARES in the vicinity of LHAASO sources to constrain the contribution of hadronic gamma-rays in these sources. We find that the current observations constrain hadronic gamma-rays to contribute no more than ∼60% of the gamma-rays from the Crab Nebula. Gamma-rays from two LHAASO sources, LHAASO J1825−1326 and LHAASO J1907+0626, are dominated by leptonic components up to ∼200 TeV, under the hypotheses in the analysis by IceCube. The uncertainties of the constraint on the hadronic gamma-ray emission are discussed. We also constrain the total 100 TeV gamma-ray emission from TeV pulsar wind nebulae by relying on the remarkable sensitivity of LHAASO at that energy.

Pursuing the Origin of the Gamma Rays in RX J1713.7-3946 Quantifying the Hadronic and Leptonic Components

Abstract We analyzed the TeV gamma-ray image of a supernova remnant RX J1713.7−3946 (RX J1713) through a comparison with the interstellar medium (ISM) and nonthermal X-rays. The gamma-ray data sets at two energy bands of >2 TeV and >250–300 GeV were obtained with H.E.S.S. and utilized in the analysis. We employed a new methodology, which assumes that the gamma-ray counts can be expressed as a linear combination of two terms: one is proportional to the ISM column density and the other proportional to the X-ray count. We then assume that these represent the hadronic and leptonic components, respectively. By fitting the expression to the data pixels, we find that the gamma-ray counts are well represented by a flat plane in the 3D space formed by the gamma-ray counts, the ISM column density, and the X-ray counts. The results using the latest H.E.S.S. data at 4.′8 resolution show that the hadronic and leptonic components constitute (67 ± 8)% and (33 ± 8)% of the total gamma rays, respectively, where the two components have been quantified for the first time. The hadronic component is greater than the leptonic component, which reflects the massive ISM of ∼104 M ⊙ associated with the remnant, lending support for the acceleration of cosmic-ray protons. There is a marginal hint that the gamma rays are suppressed at high gamma-ray counts, which may be ascribed to second-order effects including the shock–cloud interaction and the effect of penetration depth.

Features in cosmic-ray lepton data unveil the properties of nearby cosmic accelerators

We present a comprehensive discussion about the origin of the features in the leptonic component of the cosmic-ray spectrum. Working in the framework of a up-to-date CR transport scenario tuned on the most recent AMS-02 and Voyager data, we show that the prominent features recently found in the positron and in the all-electron spectra by several experiments are compatible with a scenario in which pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe) are the dominant sources of the positron flux, and nearby supernova remnants (SNRs) shape the high-energy peak of the electron spectrum. In particular we argue that the drop-off in positron spectrum found by AMS-02 at ∼ 300 GeV can be explained—under different assumptions—in terms of a prominent PWN that provides the bulk of the observed positrons in the ∼ 100 GeV domain, on top of the contribution from a large number of older objects. Finally, we turn our attention to the spectral softening at ∼ 1 TeV in the all-lepton spectrum, recently reported by several experiments, showing that it requires the presence of a nearby supernova remnant at its final stage.

Capabilities of the Gamma-400 Gamma-ray Telescope for Observation of Electrons and Positrons in the TeV Energy Range

The space-based GAMMA-400 gamma-ray telescope will measure the fluxes of gamma rays in the energy range from ∼20 MeV to several TeV and cosmic-ray electrons and positrons in the energy range from several GeV to several TeV to investigate the origin of gamma-ray sources, sources and propagation of the Galactic cosmic rays and signatures of dark matter. The instrument consists of an anticoincidence system, a converter-tracker (thickness one radiation length, 1 X0), a time-of-flight system, an imaging calorimeter (2 X0) with tracker, a top shower scintillator detector, an electromagnetic calorimeter from CsI(Tl) crystals (16 X0) with four lateral scintillation detectors and a bottom shower scintillator detector. In this paper, the capability of the GAMMA-400 gamma-ray telescope for electron and positron measurements is analyzed. The bulk of cosmic rays are protons, whereas the contribution of the leptonic component to the total flux is ∼10−3 at high energy. The special methods for Monte Carlo simulations are proposed to distinguish electrons and positrons from proton background in the GAMMA-400 gamma-ray telescope. The contribution to the proton rejection from each detector system of the instrument is studied separately. The use of the combined information from all detectors allows us to reach a proton rejection of up to ∼1 × 104.

Theγ-ray emitting region in low synchrotron peak blazars

Aims.From the early days inγ-ray astronomy, locating the origin of GeV emission within the core of an active galactic nucleus (AGN) persisted as an open question; the problem is to discern between near- and far-site scenarios with respect to the distance from the super massive central engine. We investigate this question under the light of a complete sample of low synchrotron peak (LSP) blazars which is fully characterized along many decades in the electromagnetic spectrum, from radio up to tens of GeV. We consider the high-energy emission from bright radio blazars and test for synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) and external Compton (EC) scenarios in the framework of localizing theγ-ray emission sites. Given that the inverse Compton (IC) process under the EC regime is driven by the abundance of external seed photons, these photons could be mainly ultraviolet (UV) to X-rays coming from the accretion disk region and the broad-line region (BLR), therefore close to the jet launch base; or infrared (IR) seed photons from the dust torus and molecular cloud spine-sheath, therefore far from jet launch base. We investigate both scenarios, and try to reveal the physics behind the production ofγ-ray radiation in AGNs which is crucial in order to locate the production site.Methods.Based on a complete sample of 104 radio-selected LSP blazars, with 37 GHz flux density higher than 1 Jy, we study broadband population properties associated with the nonthermal jet emission process, and test the capability of SSC and EC scenarios to explain the overall spectral energy distribution (SED) features. We use SEDs well characterized from radio toγrays, considering all currently available data. The enhanced available information from recent works allows us to refine the study of Syn to IC peak correlations, which points to a particularγ-ray emission site.Results.We show that SSC alone is not enough to account for the observed SEDs. Our analysis favors an EC scenario under the Thomson scattering regime, with a dominant IR external photon field. Therefore, the far-site (i.e., far from the jet launch) is probably the most reasonable scenario to account for the population properties of bright LSP blazars in cases modeled with a pure leptonic component. We calculate the photon energy density associated with the external field at the jet comoving frame to beU′ext= 1.69 × 10−2erg cm−3, finding good agreement to other correlated works.

ГАММА-ВИПРОМІНЮВАННЯ ТЕВНОГО ДІАПАЗОНУ ВІД ЗАЛИШКУ НАДНОВОЇ ВІТРИЛА

Sources and mechanisms of acceleration of the cosmic rays (CR) – a stream of nuclei, electrons and, to a lesser extent, antiparticles with a nonthermal power law energy spectrum extending to energies above 1020 eV, are still unknown. Theoretical calculations and experimental data show that the diffusive acceleration of the CR at the shock wave fronts (first order Fermi mechanism) in Galactic sources, first of all in the Supernova remnants (SNR), may be responsible for the observed CR flux with energies up to E ≤ 1018 eV. In this case, the lepton component of the CR (electrons, positrons) is confidently manifested in the SNR due to synchrotron radiation in a turbulent magnetic field inside the SNR. At the same time, the proton and nuclear component is not effective in synchrotron emission under typical CR parameters and magnetic fields in the SNR. Its presence in the SNR can be revealed due to the hadron mechanism of gamma-ray generation – the decay of neutral pions generated by inelastic collisions of the CR with particles-targets – atoms of interstellar medium inside and in the vicinity of SNR. Now only a few SNRs with a detectable gamma-ray flux of a hadron origin are known, in which the interaction of SNR with molecular clouds is observed, which provides the necessary concentration of particles-targets for CR. In our work we calculate the expected fluxes of such gamma-radiation from the Vela SNR, one of the closest SNR to the Earth, which evolves in a cloudy interstellar medium and is a potential candidate for the hadron mechanism gamma-ray source. The possibility of detecting Vela SNR with modern (Magic, HAWC, H.E.S.S.) and future (CTA) gamma-ray detectors is analyzed. It is shown that the sensitivity of CTA will be sufficient to detect the gamma-radiation generated by the hadron mechanism. Also we analyzed the possibility of registration of localized sources of gamma-radiation within the Vela SNR due to the presence of high gas density clouds. The fluxes from the two most massive clouds within the Vela SNR are calculated and compared with the sensitivity of the modern and future gamma-ray detectors. It is shown that sufficient sensitivity to detect the most massive clouds within the SNR will have the CTA facility if the spectrum of the gamma-rays generated by the hadron mechanism is without cut-off on the energy 10 TeV.

ChargedQ-balls in gauge mediated SUSY breaking models

It is known that after Affleck-Dine baryogenesis, spatial inhomogeneities of Affleck-Dine field grow into non-topological solitons called Q-balls. In gauge mediated SUSY breaking models, sufficiently large Q-balls with baryon charge are stable while Q-balls with lepton charge can always decay into leptons. For a Q-ball that carries nonzero $B$ and $L$ charges, the difference between the baryonic component and the leptonic component in decay rate may induce nonzero electric charge on the Q-ball. This implies that charged Q-ball, also called gauged Q-ball, may emerge in our universe. In this paper, we investigate two complex scalar fields, a baryonic scalar field and a leptonic one, in an Abelian gauge theory. We find stable solutions of gauged Q-balls for different baryon and lepton charges. Those solutions shows that a Coulomb potential arises and the Q-ball becomes electrically charged as expected. It is energetically favored that some amount of leptonic component decays, but there is an upper bound on its amount due to the Coulomb force. The baryonic decay also becomes possible by virtue of electrical repulsion and we find the condition to suppress it so that the charged Q-balls can survive in the universe.

Observations of supernova remnants and pulsar wind nebulae at gamma-ray energies

In the past few years, gamma-ray astronomy has entered a golden age thanks to two major breakthroughs: Cherenkov telescopes on the ground and the Large Area Telescope (LAT) onboard the Fermi satellite. The sample of supernova remnants (SNRs) detected at gamma-ray energies is now much larger: it goes from evolved supernova remnants interacting with molecular clouds up to young shell-type supernova remnants and historical supernova remnants. Studies of SNRs are of great interest, as these analyses are directly linked to the long standing issue of the origin of the Galactic cosmic rays. In this context, pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe) need also to be considered since they evolve in conjunction with SNRs. As a result, they frequently complicate interpretation of the gamma-ray emission seen from SNRs and they could also contribute directly to the local cosmic ray spectrum, particularly the leptonic component. This paper reviews the current results and thinking on SNRs and PWNe and their connection to cosmic ray production. Au cours des dernières années, l'astronomie gamma est entrée dans un âge d'or grâce à deux avancées majeures : les télescopes Tcherenkov au sol et le Large Area Telescope (LAT) à bord du satellite Fermi . L'échantillon des restes de supernova (SNR) détectés en rayons gamma de haute énergie est maintenant beaucoup plus vaste : il va des vestiges de supernovae évolués en interaction avec des nuages moléculaires jusqu'aux jeunes SNR en coquille et aux SNR historiques. Les études des SNR sont d'un grand intérêt, car ces analyses sont directement liées à la question de l'origine des rayons cosmiques galactiques. Dans ce contexte, les nébuleuses de pulsars (PWN) doivent également être prises en compte, car elles évoluent en conjonction avec les SNR. En conséquence, elles compliquent souvent l'interprétation de l'émission gamma en provenance des SNR et pourraient aussi contribuer directement au spectre local de rayons cosmiques, en particulier à sa composante leptonique. Cet article passe en revue les résultats et réflexions actuels concernant les SNR et les PWN, ainsi que leur connexion avec la production des rayons cosmiques.

Separation of electrons and protons in the GAMMA-400 gamma-ray telescope

The GAMMA-400 telescope will measure the fluxes of gamma rays and cosmic-ray electrons and positrons in the energy range from 100MeV to several TeV. These measurements will allow it to achieve the following scientific objectives: search for signatures of dark matter, investigation of gamma-ray point-like and extended sources, study of the energy spectrum of the Galactic and extragalactic diffuse emission, study of gamma-ray bursts and gamma-ray emission from the active Sun, together with high-precision measurements of the high-energy electrons and positrons spectra, protons and nuclei up to the knee.The bulk of cosmic rays are protons and helium nuclei, whereas the lepton component in the total flux is ∼10−3 at high energy. In the present paper, the simulated capability of the GAMMA-400 telescope to distinguish electrons and positrons from protons in cosmic rays is addressed. The individual contribution to the proton rejection from each detector system of GAMMA-400 is studied separately. The use of the combined information from all detectors allows us to reach a proton rejection of the order of ∼4×105 for vertical incident particles and ∼3×105 for particles with initial inclination of 30° in the electron energy range from 50GeV to 1TeV.

Pulsar Wind Nebulae and Cosmic Rays: A Bedtime Story

The role pulsar wind nebulae play in producing our locally observed cosmic ray spectrum remains murky, yet intriguing. Pulsar wind nebulae are born and evolve in conjunction with SNRs, which are favored sites of Galactic cosmic ray acceleration. As a result they frequently complicate interpretation of the gamma-ray emission seen from SNRs. However, pulsar wind nebulae may also contribute directly to the local cosmic ray spectrum, particularly the leptonic component. This paper reviews the current thinking on pulsar wind nebulae and their connection to cosmic ray production from an observational perspective. It also considers how both future technologies and new ways of analyzing existing data can help us to better address the relevant theoretical questions. A number of key points will be illustrated with recent results from the VHE (E > 100 GeV) gamma-ray observatory VERITAS.

Evidence of hadronic interaction in Tycho Supernova Remnant using Fermi-LAT data

The Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) has observed Tycho Supernova Remnant in the MeV-GeV energy range. The spectrum has been studied using the first three years of data and new data are being collected. We present a multiwavelength model of the observed spectrum from radio to TeV energy range, based on the hypothesis of hadronic origin of γ-rays. As described by the Fermi acceleration theory, a single proton population was considered, modeled with a simple power-law in momentum. The photon emissivity is computed following Kamae et al (2006) [T. Kamae, et al., ApJ 647 (2006) 692]. The leptonic component is also taken into account according to Giordano et al. (2012) [F. Giordano, et al., ApJ 744 (2012) L2] prescriptions and it turns out to be negligible with respect to the hadronic one. The model returns a spectral index of 2.23(±0.05) and an acceleration efficiency of 5% of the total kinetic energy expelled in Supernova explosion and it may provide a hint of the acceleration processes in SNRs up to energies close to the knee of cosmic ray spectrum. This work shows that experimental data can be easily explained with a simple model, representing a good test for the acceleration theory.

Cosmic ray acceleration search in Supernova Remnants

Galactic Supernova Remnants (SNRs) are among the best candidates as source of cosmic rays due to energetics, observed rate of explosion and as possible sites where the Fermi mechanisms naturally plays a key role. Evidence of hadronic acceleration processes taking place in SNRs are being collected with the Fermi-LAT, whose sensitivity in the range 100MeV–100GeV is crucial for disentangling possible hadronic contribution from inverse Compton or bremsstrahlung leptonic component. A survey of the detected SNRs will be given, focusing the attention on the role of the environment and the evolution stage of the SNR in the interpretation of the observed γ-ray spectra.

INTERSTELLAR PROTONS IN THE TeV γ-RAY SNR HESS J1731-347: POSSIBLE EVIDENCE FOR THE COEXISTENCE OF HADRONIC AND LEPTONIC γ-RAYS

HESS J1731-347 (G353.6-0.7) is one of the TeV gamma-ray SNRs which shows the shell-like morphology. We have made a new analysis of the interstellar protons toward the SNR by using both the 12CO(J=1-0) and HI datasets. The results indicate that the TeV gamma-ray shell shows significant spatial correlation with the interstellar protons at a velocity range from -90 km/s to -75 km/s, and the distance corresponding to the velocity range is ~5.2 kpc, a factor of 2 larger than the previous figure 3 kpc. The total mass of the interstellar protons is estimated to be 6.4x10^4 M_sun, 25 % of which is atomic gas. We have identified the cold HI gas observed as self-absorption which shows significant correspondence with the northeastern gamma-ray peak. While the good correspondence between the interstellar protons and TeV gamma-rays in the north of the SNR lends support to the hadronic scenario for the TeV gamma-rays, the southern part of the shell shows a break in the correspondence; in particular, the southwestern rim of the SNR shell shows a significant decrease of the interstellar protons by a factor of 2. We argue that this discrepancy can be explained as due to leptonic gamma-rays, because this region well coincides with the bright shell which emit non-thermal radio continuum emission and non-thermal X-rays, suggesting that the gamma-rays of HESS J1713-347 consist of both the hadronic and leptonic components. The leptonic contribution then corresponds to ~20 % of the total gamma-rays. The total energy of cosmic-ray protons is estimated to be 10^49 erg for the gamma-ray energy range of 1 GeV - 100 TeV by assuming that 80 % of the total gamma-ray is of the hadronic origin.

One-zone synchrotron self-Compton model for the core emission of Centaurus A revisited

Aims: We investigate the role of the second synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) photon generation to the multiwavelength emission from the compact regions of sources that are characterized as misaligned blazars. For this, we focus on the nearest high-energy emitting radio galaxy Centaurus A and we revisit the one-zone SSC model for its core emission. Methods: We have calculated analytically the peak luminosities of the first and second SSC components by, first, deriving the steady-state electron distribution in the presence of synchrotron and SSC cooling and, then, by using appropriate expressions for the positions of the spectral peaks. We have also tested our analytical results against those derived from a numerical code where the full emissivities and cross-sections were used. Results: We show that the one-zone SSC model cannot account for the core emission of Centaurus A above a few GeV, where the peak of the second SSC component appears. We, thus, propose an alternative explanation for the origin of the high energy ($\gtrsim 0.4$ GeV) and TeV emission, where these are attributed to the radiation emitted by a relativistic proton component through photohadronic interactions with the photons produced by the primary leptonic component. We show that the required proton luminosities are not extremely high, e.g. $\sim 10^{43}$ erg/s, provided that the injection spectra are modelled by a power-law with a high value of the lower energy cutoff. Finally, we find that the contribution of the core emitting region of Cen A to the observed neutrino and ultra-high energy cosmic-ray fluxes is negligible.

On the physics of radio haloes in galaxy clusters: scaling relations and luminosity functions

The underlying physics of giant and mini radio haloes in galaxy clusters is still an open question. We find that mini haloes (such as in Perseus and Ophiuchus) can be explained by radio-emitting electrons that are generated in hadronic cosmic ray (CR) interactions with protons of the intracluster medium. By contrast, the hadronic model either fails to explain the extended emission of giant radio haloes (as in Coma at low frequencies) or would require a flat CR profile, which can be realized through outward streaming and diffusion of CRs (in Coma and A2163 at 1.4 GHz). We suggest that a second leptonic component could be responsible for the missing flux in the outer parts of giant haloes within a new hybrid scenario and we describe its possible observational consequences. To study the hadronic emission component of the radio-halo population statistically, we use a cosmological mock galaxy cluster catalogue built from the MultiDark simulation. Because of the properties of CR streaming and the different scalings of the X-ray luminosity (LX) and the Sunyaev–Zel'dovich flux (Y) with gas density, our model can simultaneously reproduce the observed bimodality of radio-loud and radio-quiet clusters at the same LX as well as the unimodal distribution of radio-halo luminosity versus Y; thereby suggesting a physical solution to this apparent contradiction. We predict radio-halo emission down to the mass scale of galaxy groups, which highlights the unique prospects for low-frequency radio surveys (such as the Low Frequency Array Tier 1 survey) to increase the number of detected radio haloes by at least an order of magnitude.