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 from the direction of SS433/W50 with the Fermi Large Area Telescope. The steady flux and a narrow spectral energy distribution with a maximum around 250 MeV suggest that gamma-rays are rendered by the bulk jet kinetic power 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 may represent a significant fraction of the total galactic cosmic-ray flux at GeV energies.