The Long-term Accretion Luminosity of V4641 Sgr through Binary Evolution Simulations: Implications for its Ultrahigh-energy Gamma-Ray Emission

Abstract Recent observations by Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory and High Altitude Water Cherenkov Observatory have revealed extended ultrahigh-energy (UHE; E > 100 TeV) gamma-ray emission associated with the black hole X-ray binary V4641 Sgr, with a spectrum extending up to ∼0.8 PeV. Interpreting this emission requires a very high time-averaged nonthermal particle power, significantly exceeding the long-term observed X-ray luminosity that is commonly used as a proxy for the accretion power, leading to an apparent “energy crisis.” To address this, we perform detailed binary evolution simulations with MESA, constrained by the known system parameters inferred from observation. Across an extensive evolutionary grid, all tracks that match the current system parameters pass through a long-lasting, slow mass-transfer phase, with a time-averaged intrinsic X-ray luminosity of over evolutionary timescales of order L X ∼ 10 38 erg s −1 , far above the observed luminosity average over the last few decades. This is consistent with earlier suggestions of an extended obscuring/reprocessing envelope or outflow in V4641 Sgr. The inferred intrinsic accretion power can then readily supply the energy required to explain the UHE emission under the leptonic model, and is also marginally consistent with the requirement from the hadronic model, resolving the energy crisis. This supports V4641 Sgr as a Galactic PeV particle accelerator.