An extreme particle accelerator powered by pulsar PSR J1849−0001

Abstract

Pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe) are bubbles of relativistic particles, powered by the rotational energy loss of the central pulsars. The Crab Nebula, powered by the Milky Way’s most energetic pulsar, was discovered by the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO) as a PeV gamma-ray emitter, thereby establishing it as an extreme particle accelerator along with multiwavelength observations. Here we report LHAASO’s detection of a point-like ultrahigh-energy (UHE, photon energy E > 100 TeV) gamma-ray source associated with the PWN powered by PSR J1849-0001, a pulsar of spindown power 50 times lower than the Crab pulsar. The measured gamma-ray spectrum extends to PeV energies following a power-law distribution, with the PeV luminosity a few times higher than that of the Crab Nebula. Combined X-ray observations constrain the average magnetic field within the source to about 3 μG, and reveal an extreme particle acceleration efficiency approaching or even exceeding unity in the PWN, which we refer to as the ‘Aquila Booster’. The result challenges the particle acceleration theory in PWN and implies non-ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) conditions within the accelerator, potentially involving magnetic reconnection upstream of the termination shock.