LHAASO J1849$-$0002: A Hybrid Lepto-Hadronic Interpretation of PeV Gamma-Ray Emission

Abstract

Recently, LHAASO detected gamma-ray emission from the pulsar wind nebula (PWN) J1849-0001 extending up to approximately 2 PeV, providing strong evidence for PeV particle acceleration. To explain the origin of this ultra-high-energy emission, we investigate three physical scenarios: a pure leptonic model, a hadronic-dominated model, and a hybrid lepto-hadronic model. We show that while both pure leptonic and hadronic-dominated models can reproduce parts of the multiwavelength spectral energy distribution (SED), neither can simultaneously explain the entire dataset, particularly the PeV tail. The leptonic scenario requires an unrealistically high electron cutoff energy, while the hadronic model underpredicts the highest-energy emission. We therefore propose a hybrid model that combines inverse Compton emission from PWN electrons with hadronic interactions between escaped cosmic rays and a nearby molecular cloud. In this framework, a suppressed diffusion coefficient ($\sim 1\%$ of the Galactic average) is required to confine PeV particles in the source vicinity. This model successfully reproduces the full SED, including the approximately 2 PeV emission. We further calculate the associated neutrino flux, and show the sensitivity of NEON to this source. Our results support the interpretation that evolved PWNe embedded in complex environments can act as Galactic PeVatrons.