SS433 PeV neutron jet feeding the far TeV gamma beam

TL;DR

This paper proposes that PeV neutron jets from SS433, produced during tidal eruptions, decay into secondary particles and gamma rays, explaining distant TeV gamma-ray tails observed by multiple telescopes.

Contribution

It introduces a novel model linking PeV neutron jets from SS433 to observed distant TeV gamma-ray emissions, a connection not previously established.

Findings

PeV neutron jets can produce distant TeV gamma-ray tails.

Decay of neutron jets aligns with observed gamma-ray energies.

Alternative models are less consistent with observations.

Abstract

The SS433 is a well-known binary system with an internal black hole, which is stripping mass from an orbiting companion of ten solar masses, at a hundred of light-seconds away. The black hole and its accretion disk fuel a thin precessing jet, whose spirals are well-observed. Surprisingly, disconnected gamma-ray tails have recently been discovered by H.E.S.S., HAWC and LHAASO, hundreds of light-years away and with energies of tens of TeV. We suggest that tens PeV neutron burst jets were ejected from the SS433 system over the past century. These beams of ultra high-energy PeVatron neutrons, by their in-flight beta decay and Inverse Compton scattering, could be the source of the enigmatic, distant and disconnected tens of TeV gamma-ray beams. These ultra-relativistic PeV neutron jets could have been formed during one of the system's rare and intense tidal eruptions, when tens of PeV protons collide CV October 2025 with thermal ultraviolet photons, creating delta resonances. Their decay into secondary neutron beams of tens of PeV is well consistent with observations. Alternative models appear uncompetitive.