ALMA Observations of DEM L241/LMC P3 in the Large Magellanic Cloud: Evidence for the Formation of Cool Molecular Jets Driven by a Microquasar

Abstract We present ALMA observations of DEML 241/LMC P3, the most luminous γ -ray binary consisting of a compact object and an O star, in CO emission. We have found a one-sided jet-like CO feature of 8 pc length and 1 pc width, which accompanies another weaker CO jet candidate with slightly different orientation. The one-sided CO jet exhibits striking alignment with LMC P3, suggesting that the jet was driven by LMC P3. We have determined the kinetic temperature of the CO jet to be significantly high at 33−60 K as compared with ∼15 K in the nearby nonjet CO cloud, where no radiative heat source is found. We interpret that the high temperatures are due to shock heating of a microquasar jet driven by the γ -ray binary, where the compact object has an accretion disk fed by the O star winds. The CO jet matches existing predictions from magnetohydrodynamical simulations, which show that CO jet can form from the interaction of the microquasar jet and an ambient interstellar medium (ISM) cloud. These results provide strong evidence that CO jets are a signature sculpted by microquasar jets, lending support for mass accretion in LMC P3 as the γ -ray origin. The results suggest a second case of CO jets potentially driven by a microquasar along with the CO jets in the microquasar candidate HESS J1023-575 recently identified in the Milky Way. Furthermore, our results suggest the use of submillimeter observations for identifying microquasars, opening a new possible window for their discovery and study.

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Journal
The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Published
2026-10-29
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aea0cb
Primary Topic
Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

ALMA Observations of DEM L241/LMC P3 in the Large Magellanic Cloud: Evidence for the Formation of Cool Molecular Jets Driven by a Microquasar

Paul P. Plucinsky, R. Z. E. Alsaberi, N. Mizuno, Aya Bamba et al.
The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations
article

ALMA Observations of DEM L241/LMC P3 in the Large Magellanic Cloud: Evidence for the Formation of Cool Molecular Jets Driven by a Microquasar

Paul P. Plucinsky, R. Z. E. Alsaberi, N. Mizuno, Aya Bamba, Yumiko Yamane, Kengo Tachihara, Y. Fukui, Toshikazu Onishi, Piyush Sharda, Kazuki Tokuda, G. R. Bhuvana, Charles Law, R. Yamada, Kisetsu Tsuge, Manami Sasaki, Gavin Rowell, Hidetoshi Sano, Yuya Asano, Hiromasa Suzuki, Miroslav Filipovic
article en

Abstract

Abstract We present ALMA observations of DEML 241/LMC P3, the most luminous γ -ray binary consisting of a compact object and an O star, in CO emission. We have found a one-sided jet-like CO feature of 8 pc length and 1 pc width, which accompanies another weaker CO jet candidate with slightly different orientation. The one-sided CO jet exhibits striking alignment with LMC P3, suggesting that the jet was driven by LMC P3. We have determined the kinetic temperature of the CO jet to be significantly high at 33−60 K as compared with ∼15 K in the nearby nonjet CO cloud, where no radiative heat source is found. We interpret that the high temperatures are due to shock heating of a microquasar jet driven by the γ -ray binary, where the compact object has an accretion disk fed by the O star winds. The CO jet matches existing predictions from magnetohydrodynamical simulations, which show that CO jet can form from the interaction of the microquasar jet and an ambient interstellar medium (ISM) cloud. These results provide strong evidence that CO jets are a signature sculpted by microquasar jets, lending support for mass accretion in LMC P3 as the γ -ray origin. The results suggest a second case of CO jets potentially driven by a microquasar along with the CO jets in the microquasar candidate HESS J1023-575 recently identified in the Milky Way. Furthermore, our results suggest the use of submillimeter observations for identifying microquasars, opening a new possible window for their discovery and study.

The Astrophysical Journal LettersVol. 1011(1)
University of Miyazaki (JP), Leiden University (NL), University of Minnesota (US), Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (DE), National Institutes of Natural Sciences (JP), Kagawa University (JP), Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian (US), National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (JP), Gifu University (JP), Osaka Metropolitan University (JP), University of Virginia (US), The University of Adelaide (AU), Nagoya University (JP), Western Sydney University (AU), The University of Tokyo (JP)
National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Space Telescope Science Institute, National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, National Science and Technology Council, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, National Institutes of Natural Sciences
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Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations
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