High-energy gamma-ray emission from Cyg X-1 measured by Fermi and its theoretical implications

TL;DR

This study measures gamma-ray emission from Cyg X-1 with Fermi, revealing weak steady emission in the hard state that constrains jet and accretion flow models, and sets upper limits in the soft state affecting corona electron acceleration.

Contribution

First detailed gamma-ray measurements of Cyg X-1 across spectral states, providing constraints on jet composition, magnetic fields, and accretion flow models.

Findings

Detected weak steady gamma-ray emission in the hard state.

Constraints on the number of relativistic electrons in the jet.

Upper limits on gamma-ray emission in the soft state, indicating absorption effects.

Abstract

We have obtained measurements and upper limits on the emission of Cyg X-1 in the photon energy range of 0.03--300 GeV based on observations by Fermi. We present the results separately for the hard and soft spectral states, as well for all of the analysed data. In the hard state, we detect a weak steady emission in the 0.1--10 GeV range with a power-law photon index of Gamma=2.6+-0.2 at a 4 sigma statistical significance. This measurement, even if considered to be an upper limit, strongly constrains Compton emission of the steady radio jet, present in that state. The number of relativistic electrons in the jet has to be low enough for the spectral components due to Compton upscattering of the stellar blackbody and synchrotron radiation to be within the observed fluxes. If optically-thin synchrotron emission of the jet is to account for the MeV tail, as implied by the recently-claimed strong polarization in that energy range, the magnetic field in the jet has to be much above equipartition. The GeV-range measurements also strongly constrain models of hot accretion flows, most likely present in the hard state, in which gamma-rays are produced from decay of neutral pions produced in collisions of energetic ions in an inner part of the flow. In the soft state, the obtained upper limits constrain electron acceleration in a non-thermal corona, most likely present around a blackbody accretion disc. The coronal emission above 30 MeV has to be rather weak, which is most readily explained by absorption of gamma-rays in pair-producing photon-photon collisions. Then, the size of the bulk of the corona is less than a few tens of the gravitational radii.