arXiv · 2510.06786
A Giant Peanut-shaped Ultra-High-Energy Gamma-Ray Emitter Off the Galactic Plane
Abstract
Ultra-high-energy (UHE), exceeding 100 TeV (10^12 electronvolts), {\gamma}-rays manifests extreme particle acceleration in astrophysical sources. Recent observations by {\gamma}-ray telescopes, particularly by the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO), have revealed a few tens of UHE sources, indicating numerous Galactic sources capable of accelerating particles to PeV (10^15 electronvolts) energies. However, discerning the dominant acceleration mechanisms (leptonic versus hadronic), the relative contributions of specific source classes, and the role of particle transport in shaping their observed emission are central goals of modern UHE astrophysics. Here we report the discovery of a giant UHE {\gamma}-ray emitter at -17.5{\deg} off the Galactic plane - a region where UHE {\gamma}-ray sources are rarely found. The emitter exhibits a distinctive asymmetric shape, resembling a giant "Peanut" spanning 0.45{\deg} \times 4.6{\deg}, indicative of anisotropic particle distribution over a large area. A highly aged millisecond pulsar (MSP) J0218+4232 is the sole candidate accelerator positionally coincident with the Peanut region. Its association with UHE {\gamma}-rays extending to 0.7 PeV, if confirmed, would provide the first evidence of a millisecond pulsar powering PeV particles. Such a finding challenges prevailing models, which posit that millisecond pulsars cannot sustain acceleration to PeV energies. The detection reveals fundamental gaps in understanding particle acceleration, cosmic-ray transport, and interstellar magnetic field effects, potentially revealing new PeV accelerator (PeVatron) classes.
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Zhen Cao, Felix Aharonian, Yunxiang Bai, Yiwei Bao, Denis Bastieri, Xiaojun Bi, YuJiang Bi, Mr Bian WenYi, A. Butkevich, Chengmiao Cai, Wenyu Cao, Zhe Cao, Jin Chang, Jinfan Chang, Mr Aming Chen, Ensheng Chen, Mr Guo-Hai Chen, Mr Huaxi Chen, Liang Chen, Long Chen, Mingjun Chen, Mali Chen, Qihui Chen, Shi Chen, Suhong Chen, Songzhan Chen, Tianlu Chen, Xiaobin Chen, Xuejian Chen, Yang Chen, Ning Cheng, Yaodong Cheng, Ming Chung Chu, Mingyang Cui, Shuwang Cui, Xiaohong Cui, Yidong Cui, Benzhong Dai, Hongliang Dai, Z. G. Dai, Danzengluobu ., Yangxuan Diao, Xuqiang Dong, Kaikai Duan, Junhui Fan, Yi-Zhong Fan, Jun Fang, Jianhua Fang, Kun Fang, Cunfeng Feng, Hua Feng, Li Feng, Shaohui Feng, Xiaoting Feng, Yi Feng, Youliang Feng, Stefano Gabici, Bo Gao, Chuandong Gao, Qi Gao, Wei Gao, Weikang Gao, Maomao Ge, Ting-Ting Ge, Lisi Geng, Gwenael Giacinti, Guanghua Gong, Quanbu Gou, Minhao Gu, Fulai Guo, Jing Guo, Xiaolei Guo, Yiqing Guo, Yingying Guo, Yiang Han, Otto A. Hannuksela, Mariam Hasan, Huihai He, Hao-Ning He, Jiayin He, Xinyu He, Yu He, Sergio Hernández-Cadena, Bowen Hou, Chao Hou, Xian Hou, Hongbo Hu, Shicong Hu, Chen Huang, Daihui Huang, Jiajun Huang, Tian-Qi Huang, Wenjun Huang, Xingtao Huang, Xiaoyuan Huang, Yong Huang, Yi-Yun Huang, Xiaolu Ji, Huanyu Jia, Kang Jia. 2025-10-08. A Giant Peanut-shaped Ultra-High-Energy Gamma-Ray Emitter Off the Galactic Plane. https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.06786
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