IGR J17354-3255 as bench test for investigation of gamma-ray emission from Supergiant Fast X-ray Transients

TL;DR

This paper investigates the potential of the Supergiant Fast X-ray Transient IGR J17354-3255 to emit gamma rays, using it as a test case to explore high-energy phenomena in such transient systems.

Contribution

It proposes IGR J17354-3255 as a benchmark for studying gamma-ray emission in SFXTs, highlighting preliminary evidence of transient gamma-ray activity.

Findings

Hints of gamma-ray flaring on short timescales

Potential confirmation of gamma-ray emission from SFXTs

Implications for high-energy astrophysics and source classification

Abstract

Among the different types of sources shining in the high energy sky, gamma-ray binaries are rapidly becoming the subject of major interest. In fact, in the last few years a number of High Mass X-ray Binaries (HMXBs) have been firmly detected from MeV to TeV energies, providing secure evidences that particles can be efficiently accelerated up to very high energies in such galactic systems. Similarly to this general and emerging class of gamma-ray binaries, in principle Supergiant Fast X-ray Transients (SFXTs) have all the "ingredients" to be transient high energy emitters. In this context, the SFXT IGR J17354-3255 is a good bench test and we present intriguing hints likely suggesting that it is a transient gamma-ray source flaring on short timescales. If fully confirmed by further studies, the implications stemming are huge, both theoretically and observationally, and would add a further extreme characteristic to the already extreme class of SFXTs.