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Context. The large jet kinetic power and non-thermal processes occurring in the microquasar SS 433 make this source a good candidate for a very high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray emitter. Gamma-ray fluxes above the sensitivity limits of current Cherenkov telescopes have been predicted for both the central X-ray binary system and the interaction regions of SS 433 jets with the surrounding W50 nebula. Non-thermal emission at lower energies has been previously reported, indicating that efficient particle acceleration is taking place in the system. Aims. We explore the capability of SS 433 to emit VHE gamma rays during periods in which the expected flux attenuation due to periodic eclipses (P-orb similar to 13.1 days) and precession of the circumstellar disk (P-pre similar to 162 days) periodically covering the central binary system is expected to be at its minimum. The eastern and western SS 433/W50 interaction regions are also examined using the whole data set available. We aim to constrain some theoretical models previously developed for this system with our observations. Methods. We made use of dedicated observations from the Major Atmospheric Gamma Imaging Cherenkov telescopes (MAGIC) and High Energy Spectroscopic System (H.E.S.S.) of SS 433 taken from 2006 to 2011. These observation were combined for the first time and accounted for a total effective observation time of 16.5 h, which were scheduled considering the expected phases of minimum absorption of the putative VHE emission. Gamma-ray attenuation does not affect the jet/medium interaction regions. In this case, the analysis of a larger data set amounting to similar to 40-80 h, depending on the region, was employed. Results. No evidence of VHE gamma-ray emission either from the central binary system or from the eastern/western interaction regions was found. Upper limits were computed for the combined data set. Differential fluxes from the central system are found to be less than or similar to 10(-12)-10(-13) TeV-1 cm(-2) s(-1) in an energy interval ranging from similar to few x 100 GeV to similar to few TeV. Integral flux limits down to similar to 10(-12)-10(-13) ph cm(-2) s(-1) and similar to 10(-13)-10(-14) ph cm(-2) s(-1) are obtained at 300 and 800 GeV, respectively. Our results are used to place constraints on the particle acceleration fraction at the inner jet regions and on the physics of the jet/medium interactions. Conclusions. Our findings suggest that the fraction of the jet kinetic power that is transferred to relativistic protons must be relatively small in SS 433, q(p) <= 2.5 x 10(-5), to explain the lack of TeV and neutrino emission from the central system. At the SS 433/W50 interface, the presence of magnetic fields greater than or similar to 10 mu G is derived assuming a synchrotron origin for the observed X-ray emission. This also implies the presence of high-energy electrons with E-e up to 50 TeV, preventing an efficient production of gamma-ray fluxes in these interaction regions.
Emission signatures from galactic winds provide an opportunity to directly map the outflowing gas, but this is traditionally challenging because of the low surface brightness. Using very deep observations (27 h) of the Hubble Deep Field South with the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument, we identify signatures of an outflow in both emission and absorption from a spatially resolved galaxy at z = 1.29 with a stellar mass M-star = 8 x 10(9) M-circle dot, star formation rate SFR = 77(-25)(+40) M-circle dot yr(-1), and star formation rate surface brightness Sigma(SFR) = 1.6 M-circle dot kpc(-2) within the [OII] lambda lambda 3727, 3729 half-light radius R-1/2, ([OII]) = 2.76 +/- 0.17 kpc. From a component of the strong resonant Mg II and Fe II absorptions at -350 km s(-1), we infer a mass outflow rate that is comparable to the star formation rate. We detect non-resonant Fe II* emission, at lambda 2365, lambda 2396, lambda 2612, and lambda 2626, at 1.2-2.4-1.5-2.7 x 10-(18) erg s(-1) cm(-2) respectively. The flux ratios are consistent with the expectations for optically thick gas. By combining the four non-resonant Fe II* emission lines, we spatially map the Fe II* emission from an individual galaxy for the first time. The Fe II* emission has an elliptical morphology that is roughly aligned with the galaxy minor kinematic axis, and its integrated half-light radius, R-1/2, (Fe II*) = 4.1 +/- 0.4 kpc, is 70% larger than the stellar continuum (R-1/2,(star) similar or equal to 2.34 +/- 0.17) or the [O II] nebular line. Moreover, the Fe II* emission shows a blue wing extending up to -400 km s(-1), which is more pronounced along the galaxy minor kinematic axis and reveals a C-shaped pattern in a p - v diagram along that axis. These features are consistent with a bi-conical outflow.
Multiphase galaxy winds, the accretion of cold gas through galaxy haloes, and gas stripping from jellyfish galaxies are examples of interactions between cold and hot gaseous phases. There are two important regimes in such systems. A sufficiently small cold cloud is destroyed by the hot wind as a result of Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities, which shatter the cloud into small pieces that eventually mix and dissolve in the hot wind. In contrast, stripped cold gas from a large cloud mixes with the hot wind to intermediate temperatures, and then becomes thermally unstable and cools, causing a net accretion of hot gas to the cold tail. Using the magneto-hydrodynamical code AREPO, we perform cloud crushing simulations and test analytical criteria for the transition between the growth and destruction regimes to clarify a current debate in the literature. We find that the hot-wind cooling time sets the transition radius and not the cooling time of the mixed phase. Magnetic fields modify the wind-cloud interaction. Draping of wind magnetic field enhances the field upstream of the cloud, and fluid instabilities are suppressed by a turbulently magnetized wind beyond what is seen for a wind with a uniform magnetic field. We furthermore predict jellyfish galaxies to have ordered magnetic fields aligned with their tails. We finally discuss how the results of idealized simulations can be used to provide input to subgrid models in cosmological (magneto-)hydrodynamical simulations, which cannot resolve the detailed small-scale structure of cold gas clouds in the circumgalactic medium.
Galactic winds exhibit a multiphase structure that consists of hot-diffuse and cold-dense phases. Here we present high-resolution idealized simulations of the interaction of a hot supersonic wind with a cold cloud with the moving-mesh code AREPO in setups with and without radiative cooling. We demonstrate that cooling causes clouds with sizes larger than the cooling length to fragment in 2D and 3D simulations. We confirm earlier 2D simulations by McCourt et al. (2018) and highlight differences of the shattering processes of 3D clouds that are exposed to a hot wind. The fragmentation process is quantified with a friends-of-friends analysis of shattered cloudlets and density power spectra. Those show that radiative cooling causes the power spectral index to gradually increase when the initial cloud radius is larger than the cooling length and with increasing time until the cloud is fully dissolved in the hot wind. A resolution of around 1 pc is required to reveal the effect of cooling-induced fragmentation of a 100 pc outflowing cloud. Thus, state-of-the-art cosmological zoom simulations of the circumgalactic medium fall short by orders of magnitudes from resolving this fragmentation process. This physics is, however, necessary to reliably model observed column densities and covering fractions of Lyman alpha haloes, high-velocity clouds, and broad-line regions of active galactic nuclei.
Among the different types of massive stars in advanced evolutionary stages is the enigmatic WN8h type. There are only a few Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars with this spectral type in our Galaxy. It has long been suggested that WN8h-type stars are the products of binary evolution that may harbor neutron stars (NS). One of the most intriguing WN8h stars is the runaway WR 124 surrounded by its magnificent nebula M1-67. We test the presence of an accreting NS companion in WR 124 using similar to 100 ks long observations by the Chandra X-ray observatory. The hard X-ray emission from WR 124 with a luminosity of L-X similar to 10(31) erg s(-1) is marginally detected. We use the non-local thermodynamic equilibrium stellar atmosphere code PoWR to estimate the WR wind opacity to the X-rays. The wind of a WN8-type star is effectively opaque for X-rays, hence the low X-ray luminosity of WR 124 does not rule out the presence of an embedded compact object. We suggest that, in general, high-opacity WR winds could prevent X-ray detections of embedded NS, and be an explanation for the apparent lack of WR+NS systems.