Microquasar Remnants as Pevatrons Illuminating the Galactic Cosmic Ray Knee

Bing Theodore Zhang; Shiqi Yu

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Microquasar Remnants as Pevatrons Illuminating the Galactic Cosmic Ray Knee

Bing Theodore Zhang, Shiqi Yu

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Submitted 9 Feb 2026

abstract compiled · 2026-09-23 · no language-model review

The authors' main claim Our findings suggest that the integrated history of microquasar remnants, governed by source temporal and spatial distribution and magnetic transport, naturally populates the observed CR ``knee''.

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Compiled by classifier-1.13.0 via TypeSafe API, question bank abstract-p1-20260923, 2026-09-23: 1 request, 4,360 input tokens.

What the abstract itself states, as probabilities: claims first 0.03 · states limitation 0.27 · human participants 0.01 · controlled comparison 0.07 · randomized assignment 0.09 · states quantitative result 0.98 · compares with prior results 0.09 · mentions code or data availability 0.02.

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arXiv listing abstract v3. Results and the main claim are underlined; show every role.

Microquasars are primary candidates for Galactic PeVatrons, yet their collective contribution to the cosmic ray (CR) ``knee" remains poorly understood. We investigate this contribution by simulating anisotropic diffusive propagation through the Galactic magnetic field. Our results demonstrate that spatial alignment and magnetic connectivity between source locations and the solar neighborhood govern the local flux: sources aligned with local magnetic field lines yield pronounced flux enhancements, whereas magnetically disconnected locations are strongly suppressed. We find that the characteristic proton bump near PeV is robust across random realizations of the Galactic microquasar remnant population, with as few as four nearby remnants accounting for 50\% of the observed PeV flux. Our findings suggest that the integrated history of microquasar remnants, governed by source temporal and spatial distribution and magnetic transport, naturally populates the observed CR ``knee''.

background contribution method result interpretation main claim

What the classifier reports for each sentence. The number is the probability it gave the label.
#	sentence	role	the authors' own work	states the main conclusion	strength
s0	Microquasars are primary candidates for Galactic PeVatrons, yet their collective contribution to the cosmic ray (CR) ``knee" remains poorly understood.	gap 0.69	0.04	0.04	asserted 0.70
s1	We investigate this contribution by simulating anisotropic diffusive propagation through the Galactic magnetic field.	method 0.96	0.91	0.02	asserted 0.72
s2	Our results demonstrate that spatial alignment and magnetic connectivity between source locations and the solar neighborhood govern the local flux: sources aligned with local magnetic field lines yield pronounced flux enhancements, whereas magnetically disconnected locations are strongly suppressed.	result 1.00	0.93	0.26	asserted 1.00
s3	We find that the characteristic proton bump near PeV is robust across random realizations of the Galactic microquasar remnant population, with as few as four nearby remnants accounting for 50\% of the observed PeV flux.	result 1.00	0.96	0.23	asserted 1.00
s4	Our findings suggest that the integrated history of microquasar remnants, governed by source temporal and spatial distribution and magnetic transport, naturally populates the observed CR ``knee''.	interpretation 1.00	0.74	0.83	hedged possibility 1.00

What kind of paper the classifier reports this is: simulation study 1.00 · evidence from simulation or computation 1.00.

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arXiv listing abstract v3

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full text
figures and tables
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C citations
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Every quoted sentence on this record is the authors'. Every label is from Pith's closed vocabulary, with the probability shown beside it. Every number in the measurements table is the authors', checked by code. Record as JSON

The paper

Original abstract

Microquasars are primary candidates for Galactic PeVatrons, yet their collective contribution to the cosmic ray (CR) ``knee" remains poorly understood. We investigate this contribution by simulating anisotropic diffusive propagation through the Galactic magnetic field. Our results demonstrate that spatial alignment and magnetic connectivity between source locations and the solar neighborhood govern the local flux: sources aligned with local magnetic field lines yield pronounced flux enhancements, whereas magnetically disconnected locations are strongly suppressed. We find that the characteristic proton bump near PeV is robust across random realizations of the Galactic microquasar remnant population, with as few as four nearby remnants accounting for 50\% of the observed PeV flux. Our findings suggest that the integrated history of microquasar remnants, governed by source temporal and spatial distribution and magnetic transport, naturally populates the observed CR ``knee''.

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References

Forward citations

Cited by 4 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score. Full citation record

XMM-Newton Resolves Parsec-scale X-ray Jets in the PeVatron Microquasar V4641 Sgr
astro-ph.HE 2026-10 conditional novelty 7.0 of 10

XMM-Newton resolves two parsec-scale X-ray knots flanking the PeVatron microquasar V4641 Sgr, coincident with its TeV lobes and implying a weak 3 to 5 microgauss magnetic field.
Caught by its own light: Wimpzillas, the LHAASO knee and the diffuse $\gamma$-ray sky
astro-ph.HE 2026-09 accept novelty 7.0 of 10

Decaying superheavy dark matter can mimic the LHAASO proton knee, but the associated gamma-ray flux exceeds observations, excluding this explanation.
Galactic Microquasar and Supernova Remnants Imprinting on Diffuse Neutrino and Gamma-Ray Sky
astro-ph.HE 2026-08 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

A two-population cosmic-ray transport model finds supernova remnants dominate the Galactic diffuse neutrino/gamma-ray sky below about 10 TeV while microquasars dominate above, matching IceCube and LHAASO data.
Probing the origin of the LHAASO Peanut with a hidden central accelerator
astro-ph.HE 2026-11 conditional novelty 5.0 of 10

A hidden central pulsar with anisotropic diffusion and a localized magnetic field reorientation can plausibly explain the LHAASO Peanut's spectrum and morphology, though the far hotspot remains weaker than observed ab...

How the literature uses it

3 arXiv papers cite this in 6 sentences

Each citing sentence is taken from the citing paper's LaTeX source and typed by Pith's classifier. A label appears at probability 0.8 or more (0.95 for support), a contest at 0.7 or more; the quoted words are the citing authors'. How each label was checked · JSON

Papers citing it · 5 sentences without a confident label

Cites it as background 1 paper

Another possibility, not explored in this work, is that these sources have recently switched off after accelerating particles up to PeV energies [ref] .

Constraints on Hadronic Emission from Microquasars Detected by LHAASO · Undetected microquasars · 0.86

What it cites · 32 sentences without a confident label

Builds on 1 paper

In this paper, we extend our previously established CR model [ref] by incorporating detailed propagation through the GMF.

2506.20193 · Introduction · 1.00

Uses the method or tool of 1 paper

Under the assumption of purely isotropic diffusion, using the method in Ref. [ref] , we analytically calculate that a single source must be located within $d ≲0.5$ kpc and have an age $τ_age ≲$ 0.2 Myr to dominate the local flux (see Appendix [ref] for details).

The Origin of Galactic Cosmic Rays · Introduction · 0.99

Uses data or values from 3 papers

The diffusion coefficient parallel to the local magnetic field lines is $D_‖= 6.1 ×10^28 (E / 4 GeV)^1/3 cm^2 s^-1$ [ref] .

Reconciling cosmic ray diffusion with Galactic magnetic field models · Introduction · 0.99
These results contextualize the values for known objects like Cygnus X-1, which has a distance $d = 2.22$ kpc [ref] and an estimated jet duration of 0.04 to 0.3 Myr [ref] .

2102.09091 · Section · 1.00
These results contextualize the values for known objects like Cygnus X-1, which has a distance $d = 2.22$ kpc [ref] and an estimated jet duration of 0.04 to 0.3 Myr [ref] .

A dark jet dominates the power output of the stellar black hole Cygnus X-1 · Section · 1.00

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