Magnetic rigidity reveals the PeVatron acceleration region in SS 433

Abstract

PeVatrons are cosmic accelerators capable of driving particles to petaelectronvolt (PeV) energies. Recently, microquasar jets have emerged as compelling Galactic PeVatron candidates. This is especially the case for SS 433 as its $>100$ TeV gamma-ray emission is spatially coincident with an atomic cloud. However, the exact region where PeV protons are accelerated and injected within these jets remains unresolved. Here we report, using archival, multi-frequency VLBA observations, the magnetic field profile $B(H)$ along the SS 433 inner jet on tens of AU scale, where $H$ is the distance from the central compact object. We find that the field declines as $B(H) \propto H^{-0.50\pm0.12}$, demonstrating that the magnetic rigidity $B(H)R_{\rm acc}$ grows with $H$ for a conical jet. This implies the Hillas limit ($E_{\rm max} \propto BH$) to lie well beyond a PeV at a few hundred-AU scale, which becomes a highly potential site for accelerating protons to energies $E_{\rm cut} \simeq 2.6$ PeV inferred from the LHAASO gamma-ray spectrum. These results reveal a hidden PeVatron within the baryonic ejecta of microquasar SS 433, well upstream of the extended TeV-emitting lobes.