The Herschel far-infrared view of a shell bubble inflated by Cygnus X-1 microquasar jets

Radio lobes and hotspots provide invaluable diagnostics of the relativistic jet power and content in active galactic nuclei. Likewise, the interstellar medium should behave like a calorimeter for microquasar jets. However, signatures of the interaction of microquasar jets with the ISM are both fainter and on comparatively larger scales than for AGN jets. We propose here farinfrared (FIR) Herschel/PACS and SPIRE widefield imaging observations to map the surrounding environment of the microquasar and supergiant Xray binary Cygnus X1. This will allow us to detect the presence of filamentary structures associated with shell shock ionisation. Measuring the shell distribution, size and speed will constrain the average jet power and provide information on the fraction of the accretion power dissipated by ejection instead of radiation. These observations, by bringing a case study of shock collisions of relativistic jets with the ISM, close to a star formation region, and potentially triggering star forming processes, will strongly contribute to the Herschel legacy. truncated!, Please see actual data for full text [truncated!, Please see actual data for full text]