A search for Very High Energy gamma-ray emission from Scorpius X-1 with the MAGIC telescopes

TL;DR

This study used MAGIC telescopes to search for very high energy gamma-ray emission from Sco X-1, setting upper limits that challenge existing models of high-energy processes in microquasars.

Contribution

First VHE gamma-ray observational limits for Sco X-1, constraining its high-energy emission and jet physics during specific X-ray states.

Findings

No significant VHE gamma-ray signal detected.

Upper limits constrain TeV luminosity to jet power ratio.

Results suggest different high-energy physics compared to gamma-ray binaries.

Abstract

The acceleration of particles up to GeV or higher energies in microquasars has been the subject of considerable theoretical and observational efforts in the past few years. Sco X-1 is a microquasar from which evidence of highly energetic particles in the jet has been found when it is in the so-called Horizontal Branch (HB), a state when the radio and hard X-ray fluxes are higher and a powerful relativistic jet is present. Here we present the first very high energy gamma-ray observations of Sco X-1 obtained with the MAGIC telescopes. An analysis of the whole dataset does not yield a significant signal, with 95% CL flux upper limits above 300 GeV at the level of 2.4x10^{-12} ph/cm^2/s. Simultaneous RXTE observations were conducted to search for TeV emission during particular X-ray states of the source. A selection of the gamma-ray data obtained during the HB based on the X-ray colors did not yield a signal either, with an upper limit of 3.4x10^{-12} ph/cm^2/s. These upper limits place a constraint on the maximum TeV luminosity to non-thermal X-ray luminosity of L_{VHE}/L_{ntX}<0.02, that can be related to a maximum TeV luminosity to jet power ratio of L_{VHE}/L_{j}<10^{-3}. Our upper limits indicate that the underlying high-energy emission physics in Sco X-1 must be inherently different from that of the hitherto detected gamma-ray binaries.