English

Microquasar Cygnus X-3 as the PeVatron powering the Cygnus Bubble

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena 2026-07-08 v1

Abstract

The recent discovery by the LHAASO collaboration of a variable ultra-high-energy (UHE; EγE_\gamma \ge 100 TeV) γ\gamma-ray source associated with the microquasar Cygnus X-3, with a spectrum extending to several PeV, provides compelling evidence for a hadronic super-PeVatron operating within the binary system. Inside the binary, the accelerated protons lose only a small fraction of their energy; upon escaping into the interstellar medium, they propagate diffusively to form a vast gamma-ray ``halo" structure extended to hundreds of parsecs. We argue that this halo has already been detected and corresponds to the Cygnus Bubble, an extended UHE γ\gamma-ray source reported by the LHAASO collaboration -- which possesses an angular extension of 6\approx 6^{\circ} and an energy spectrum reaching 1 PeV. While the Cygnus Bubble is generally attributed to the star-forming region Cygnus X (specifically the Cygnus OB2 association at 1.4 kpc), we demonstrate that an association with Cygnus X-3 is physically more natural at energies above 400 TeV. This is supported by the cosmic-ray radial distribution, derived from the γ\gamma-ray and gas distributions, which points to continuous injection from a point-like source. The energetic requirements of the central accelerator are reasonably affordable and feasible. This reassignment identifies the Cygnus Bubble as a member of the recently discovered population of microquasar UHE γ\gamma-ray halos.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2607.07100,
  title  = {Microquasar Cygnus X-3 as the PeVatron powering the Cygnus Bubble},
  author = {Zhaodong Shi and Guangwei Wang and Ruizhi Yang and Felix Aharonian},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2607.07100},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

Accepted for publication in ApJL. 15 pages, 4 figures, and 2 tables