DETECTION OF PERSISTENT GAMMA-RAY EMISSION TOWARD SS433/W50

ABSTRACT The microquasar SS433 features the most energetic jets known in our Galaxy. A large fraction of the jet kinetic power is delivered to the surrounding W50 nebula at the jet termination shock, from which high-energy emission and cosmic-ray production have been anticipated. Here, we report on the detection of a persistent gamma-ray signal obtained with the Fermi Large Area Telescope from an unidentified source that we tentatively associate, given its 99.9% confidence level position accuracy and the lack of any other high-energy emitter counterpart in the studied region, with SS433. The obtained spectral energy distribution displays a distinct maximum at ∼250 MeV and only extends up to ∼800 MeV. We discuss the possibility that the observed gamma-ray emission is produced through proton-proton collisions at the SS433/W50 interaction regions. If the same mechanism is operating in other baryon-loaded microquasar jets, their collective contribution could represent a significant fraction of the total galactic cosmic-ray flux at GeV energies.