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Register a new userGamma-ray blazars: the combined AGILE and MAGIC views
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We describe the emission properties of blazars, i.e. the AGNs that, due to their peculiar orientation w.r.t. the observer, allow the most penetrating and direct view of their central engine. After showing that the extragalactic GeV-TeV sky is dominated by blazars of various types, we discuss the kind of blazars that are likely to be jointly detected by AGILE and MAGIC.
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Since its launch in April 2007, the AGILE satellite detected with its Gamma-Ray Imaging Detector (GRID) several blazars at high significance: 3C 279, 3C 454.3, PKS 1510-089, S5 0716+714, 3C 273, W Comae, Mrk 421 and PKS 0537-441. Moreover, AGILE was able both to rapidly respond to sudden changes in blazar activity state at other wavelengths and to alert other telescopes quickly in response to changes in the gamma-ray fluxes. Thus, we were able to obtain multiwavelength data from other observatories such as Spitzer, Swift, RXTE, Suzaku, INTEGRAL, MAGIC, VERITAS, as well as radio-to-optical coverage by means of the GASP Project of the WEBT and REM. This large multifrequency coverage gave us the opportunity to study the Spectral Energy Distribution of these sources from radio to gamma-rays energy bands and to investigate the different mechanisms responsible for their emission. We present an overview of the AGILE results on these gamma-ray blazars and the relative multifrequency data.
During the first 3 years of operation the Gamma-Ray Imaging Detector onboard the AGILE satellite detected several blazars in a high gamma-ray activity: 3C 279, 3C 454.3, PKS 1510-089, S5 0716+714, 3C 273, W Comae, Mrk 421, PKS 0537-441 and 4C +21.35. Thanks to the rapid dissemination of our alerts, we were able to obtain multiwavelength data from other observatories such as Spitzer, Swift, RXTE, Suzaku, INTEGRAL, MAGIC, VERITAS, and ARGO as well as radio-to-optical coverage by means of the GASP Project of the WEBT and the REM Telescope. This large multifrequency coverage gave us the opportunity to study the variability correlations between the emission at different frequencies and to obtain simultaneous spectral energy distributions of these sources from radio to gamma-ray energy bands, investigating the different mechanisms responsible for their emission and uncovering in some cases a more complex behaviour with respect to the standard models. We present a review of the most interesting AGILE results on these gamma-ray blazars and their multifrequency data.
The extragalactic background light (EBL) is the radiation accumulated through the history of the Universe in the wavelength range from the ultraviolet to the far infrared. Local foregrounds make the direct measurement of the diffuse EBL notoriously difficult, while robust lower limits have been obtained by adding up the contributions of all the discrete sources resolved in deep infrared and optical galaxy observations. Gamma-ray astronomy has emerged in the past few years as a powerful tool for the study of the EBL: very-high-energy (VHE) photons traversing cosmological distances can interact with EBL photons to produce e$^+$e$^-$ pairs, resulting in an energy-dependent depletion of the gamma-ray flux of distant sources that can be used to set constraints on the EBL density. The study of the EBL is one of the key scientific programs currently carried out by the MAGIC collaboration. We present here the results of the analysis of 32 VHE spectra of 12 blazars in the redshift range 0.03 - 0.94, obtained with over 300 hours of observations with the MAGIC telescopes between 2010 and 2016. A combined likelihood maximization approach is used to evaluate the density and spectrum of the EBL most consistent with the MAGIC observations. The results are compatible with state-of-the-art EBL models, and constrain the EBL density to be roughly within $simeq 20%$ of the nominal value in such models. The study reveals no anomalies in gamma-ray propagation in the large optical depth regime - contrary to some claims based on meta-analyses of published VHE spectra.
We describe the AGILE gamma-ray astronomy satellite which has recently been selected as the first Small Scientific Mission of the Italian Space Agency. With a launch in 2002, AGILE will provide a unique tool for high-energy astrophysics in the 30 MeV - 50 GeV range before GLAST. Despite the much smaller weight and dimensions, the scientific performances of AGILE are comparable to those of EGRET.
Since its early phases of operation, the AGILE mission is successfully observing Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) in the hard X-ray band with the SuperAGILE imager and in the MeV range with the Mini-Calorimeter. Up to now, three firm GRB detections were obtained above 25 MeV and some bursts were detected with lower statistical confidence in the same energy band. When a GRB is localized, either by SuperAGILE or Swift/BAT or INTEGRAL/IBIS or Fermi/GBM or IPN, inside the field of view of the Gamma Ray Imager of AGILE, a detection is searched for in the gamma ray band or an upper limit is provided. A promising result of AGILE is the detection of very short gamma ray transients, a few ms in duration and possibly identified with Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes. In this paper we show the current status of the observation of Gamma Ray Bursts and Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes with AGILE.
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