Detection of a Molecular Cloud toward the Heartbeating Gamma-ray Source near the Microquasar SS 433

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery of a molecular cloud coincident with a gamma-ray source near SS 433, analyzing its properties and exploring possible high-energy emission mechanisms, suggesting a compact object within the cloud as a potential source.

Contribution

It presents the first detection and characterization of a molecular cloud associated with a gamma-ray source near SS 433, proposing a novel accretion-based origin for the gamma-ray emission.

Findings

The molecular cloud has properties typical of quiescent dark clouds.

Gamma-ray luminosity cannot be explained by standard electron or hadronic processes.

A compact object with Bondi accretion may be responsible for the gamma-ray emission.

Abstract

We report the detection of a molecular cloud, CO+40.05-2.40, positionally coincident with the "heartbeating" GeV source Fermi J1913+0515 at the northern boundary of the SS 433/W50 system. Millimeter and submillimeter spectroscopy with the Nobeyama 45 m telescope and the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope shows that the cloud has physical properties typical of quiescent dark clouds in the Galactic disk, with no evidence of shock heating or enhanced excitation. We examine possible high-energy emission mechanisms and find that the observed GeV luminosity cannot be accounted for by electron bremsstrahlung or hadronic interactions driven by relativistic particles originating from SS 433 under reasonable energetic assumptions. As an alternative, we propose that the gamma-rays may arise from a compact object embedded within the cloud and powered by Bondi-type accretion. In this framework, the reported heartbeat-like variability may reflect periodic modulation of the accretion flow by density waves induced by the precessing equatorial outflow of SS 433.