Temporal evolution of the periodic GeV signal from 4FGL J1913.2+0512 and analysis of the SS 433 / W50 lobes

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Main Authors: Çoban, Ömer Faruk, Torres, Diego F., Li, Jian, Hadasch, Daniela, De Sarkar, Agnibha, Kerr, Matthew
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Çoban, Ömer Faruk
Torres, Diego F.
Li, Jian
Hadasch, Daniela
De Sarkar, Agnibha
Kerr, Matthew
author_facet Çoban, Ömer Faruk
Torres, Diego F.
Li, Jian
Hadasch, Daniela
De Sarkar, Agnibha
Kerr, Matthew
contents SS 433 is a microquasar whose relativistic jets precess every ~162 days, providing a laboratory for jet-interstellar medium interactions. We present a comprehensive analysis of 16 years of Fermi Large Area Telescope data (August 2008-September 2024) of the SS 433/W50 field, using events in the 0.3-300 GeV range and employing pulsar gating to mitigate contamination from the bright nearby pulsar PSR J1907+0602. We detect the GeV source 4FGL J1913.2+0512 (TS = 45, where TS denotes the likelihood-ratio Test Statistic) with a power-law spectrum (photon index 2.61 +- 0.08) and confirm a GeV excess at the western lobe (TS = 17). The eastern lobe of SS 433 is hinted at with lower significance. One additional GeV excess, Fermi J1909.6+0552 (TS = 20; TS = 28 over 0.1-300 GeV), located outside the SS 433 / W50 system, is revealed after gating. Exposure-corrected Lomb-Scargle periodograms and precessional phase-folded light curves show a ~162-day modulation in 4FGL J1913.2+0512. This periodicity is prominent during the first 10 years of the mission (2008-2018) but disappears thereafter, with the phase-folded flux concentrated in precessional phases 0.0-0.5. Over the full 16-year dataset, the modulation remains detectable but with reduced significance, consistent with dilution by the later non-modulated epoch. These results indicate that the efficiency and/or geometry of gamma-ray production in the SS 433 environment evolves on multi-year timescales.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_15986
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Temporal evolution of the periodic GeV signal from 4FGL J1913.2+0512 and analysis of the SS 433 / W50 lobes
Çoban, Ömer Faruk
Torres, Diego F.
Li, Jian
Hadasch, Daniela
De Sarkar, Agnibha
Kerr, Matthew
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
SS 433 is a microquasar whose relativistic jets precess every ~162 days, providing a laboratory for jet-interstellar medium interactions. We present a comprehensive analysis of 16 years of Fermi Large Area Telescope data (August 2008-September 2024) of the SS 433/W50 field, using events in the 0.3-300 GeV range and employing pulsar gating to mitigate contamination from the bright nearby pulsar PSR J1907+0602. We detect the GeV source 4FGL J1913.2+0512 (TS = 45, where TS denotes the likelihood-ratio Test Statistic) with a power-law spectrum (photon index 2.61 +- 0.08) and confirm a GeV excess at the western lobe (TS = 17). The eastern lobe of SS 433 is hinted at with lower significance. One additional GeV excess, Fermi J1909.6+0552 (TS = 20; TS = 28 over 0.1-300 GeV), located outside the SS 433 / W50 system, is revealed after gating. Exposure-corrected Lomb-Scargle periodograms and precessional phase-folded light curves show a ~162-day modulation in 4FGL J1913.2+0512. This periodicity is prominent during the first 10 years of the mission (2008-2018) but disappears thereafter, with the phase-folded flux concentrated in precessional phases 0.0-0.5. Over the full 16-year dataset, the modulation remains detectable but with reduced significance, consistent with dilution by the later non-modulated epoch. These results indicate that the efficiency and/or geometry of gamma-ray production in the SS 433 environment evolves on multi-year timescales.
title Temporal evolution of the periodic GeV signal from 4FGL J1913.2+0512 and analysis of the SS 433 / W50 lobes
topic High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.15986