ALMA observations reveal 26-light-year gas trail near LMC P3
Researchers interpret the carbon-monoxide trail as gas shaped and heated by a microquasar jet, offering a possible explanation for the system’s gamma rays.
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Researchers interpret the carbon-monoxide trail as gas shaped and heated by a microquasar jet, offering a possible explanation for the system’s gamma rays.
ALMA observations have revealed a straight, narrow trail of molecular gas about 26 light-years long near LMC P3, a gamma-ray-emitting system in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Researchers interpret the trail as evidence of a high-energy jet that heated and shaped the gas, though the jet’s origin remains unconfirmed.
Discovered in 2016 through its strong gamma-ray emission, LMC P3 contains a massive O-type star and a compact object that could be either a black hole or a neutron star. It lies within DEM L241, the remains of the supernova that created the compact object, Nagoya University says.
Beginning in 2022, the team used the ALMA radio observatory in Chile, using bands 6 and 7, to measure carbon-monoxide emissions at wavelengths around 1.3 mm and 0.87 mm. Those measurements helped map the gas’s structure and motion and estimate its temperature. The trail is about 3 light-years wide; its estimated temperature is 35 to 60 Kelvin, compared with 15 Kelvin in the surrounding gas.
Lead author Yasuo Fukui, a Nagoya University professor emeritus, says the relatively high temperature across much of the cloud strongly supports an interaction with a high-energy jet from the compact object. Such a jet could also power the system’s gamma rays.
Analysis
Chandra X-ray Observatory observations supported the identification of LMC P3 as an X-ray binary, while Fermi detected a 10.3-day period in its gamma-ray emissions, Universe Today said. Astronomers have considered two explanations for the emissions: a pulsar wind or a microquasar jet.
Two studies predict that the planned LISA observatory could find planets around pairs of white dwarfs and that the James Webb Space Telescope could help confirm some candidates. LISA remains in development, with launch planned for the mid-2030s.
The researchers favor the microquasar explanation: the compact object draws material from the O-type star’s wind into a disk and powers a fast particle jet. They interpret the warmer molecular trail as surrounding gas shaped and heated by a shock from that jet. The team says the trail matches simulations of such an interaction, suggesting that similar molecular structures could help identify microquasar jets.
Fukui says the strong gamma-ray emission also favors the possibility of a black hole, because black holes drive more powerful jets than neutron stars. The compact object’s identity remains unresolved.
The study was published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters in 2026, with DOI 10.3847/2041-8213/aea0cb. Gifu University researcher Bhuvana Gadikere Rajendra, designated assistant professor Kisetsu Tsuge and associate professor Hidetoshi Sano co-led the work.
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