High energy gamma-ray emission powered by a young protostar: the case of S255 NIRS 3 (2305.04571v1)

Abstract: Evidence of efficient acceleration of cosmic rays in massive young stellar objects has been recently reported. Among these massive protostars, S255 NIRS 3 for which extreme flaring events associated with radio jets have been detected, is one of the best objects to test this hypothesis. We search for gamma-ray emission associated with this object in Fermi-LAT data and inspect the gas content in different molecular lines using the MWISP survey. A GeV source dubbed 4FGL J0613.1+1749c lies on top of the MYSO region, where two filamentary ~10 pc CO structures extend along the same direction of the sub-parsec radio jets. We investigate the spectrum, morphology, and light curve of the gamma-ray source and compare it with the theoretical emission expected from hadronic and leptonic populations accelerated in the radio jets. We argue that the gamma-ray source could be powered by particles accelerated in the S255 NIRS 3 jets, radiating via Bremsstrahlung or proton-proton interaction, and with a synchrotron component shinning in radio from primary or secondary electrons in the case of a leptonic or hadronic population.