No Arabic abstract
Highly energetic, variable and distant sources such as Active Galactic Nuclei provide a good opportunity to evaluate effects due to the emission and the propagation of high energy photons. In this note, a study of possible energy-dependent time-lags with PKS 2155-304 light curve as measured by H.E.S.S. in July 2006 is presented. These time-lags could either come from the emission processes or also sign a Lorentz Symmetry breaking as predicted in some Quantum Gravity models. A Cross-Correlation function and a Wavelet Transform were used to measure the time-lags. The 95% Confidence Limit on the Quantum Gravity energy scale based on the statistical and systematic error evaluation was found to be 7x10^17 GeV considering a linear correction in the standard photon dispersion relations and assuming that emission-induced time-lags are negligible. For now, this limit is the best ever obtained with a blazar.
Multiwavelength (MWL) observations of the blazar PKS 2155-304 during two weeks in July and August 2006, the period when two exceptional flares at very high energies (VHE, E>= 100 GeV) occurred, provide a detailed picture of the evolution of its emission. The complete data set from this campaign is presented, including observations in VHE gamma-rays (H.E.S.S.), X-rays (RXTE, CHANDRA, SWIFT XRT), optical (SWIFT UVOT, Bronberg, Watcher, ROTSE), and in the radio band (NRT, HartRAO, ATCA). Optical and radio light curves from 2004 to 2008 are compared to the available VHE data from this period, to put the 2006 campaign into the context of the long-term evolution of the source. The X-ray and VHE gamma-ray emission are correlated during the observed high state of the source, but show no direct connection with longer wavelengths. The long-term flux evolution in the optical and radio bands is found to be correlated and shows that the source reaches a high state at long wavelengths after the occurrence of the VHE flares. Spectral hardening is seen in the SWIFT XRT data. The nightly averaged high-energy spectra of the non-flaring nights can be reproduced by a stationary one-zone SSC model, with only small variations in the parameters. The spectral and flux evolution in the high-energy band during the night of the second VHE flare is modelled with multi-zone SSC models, which can provide relatively simple interpretations for the hour time-scale evolution of the high-energy emission, even for such a complex data set. For the first time in this type of source, a clear indication is found for a relation between high activity at high energies and a long-term increase in the low frequency fluxes.
The High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) has observed the high-frequency peaked BL Lac object PKS2155-304 in 2003 between October 19 and November 26 in Very High Energy (VHE) gamma-rays (E>160 GeV for these observations). Observations were carried out simultaneously with the Proportional Counter Array (PCA) on board the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer satellite (RXTE), the Robotic Optical Transient Search Experiment (ROTSE) and the Nancay decimetric radiotelescope (NRT). Intra-night variability is seen in the VHE band, the source being detected with a high significance on each night it was observed. Variability is also found in the X-ray and optical bands on kilosecond timescales, along with flux-dependent spectral changes in the X-rays. The average H.E.S.S. spectrum shows a very soft power law shape with a photon index of 3.37+/-0.07(stat)+/-0.10(sys). The energy outputs in the 2-10 keV and in the VHE gamma-ray range are found to be similar, with the X-rays and the optical fluxes at a level comparable to some of the lowest historical measurements, indicating that PKS2155-304 was in a low or quiescent state during the observations. Both a leptonic and a hadronic model are used to derive source parameters from these observations.
Hov{r}ava gravity is a attempt to construct a renormalizable theory of gravity by breaking the Lorentz Invariance of the gravitational action at high energies. The underlying principle is that Lorentz Invariance is an approximate symmetry and its violation by gravitational phenomena is somehow hidden to present limits of observational precision. Here I point out that a simple modification of the low energy limit of Hov{r}ava gravity in its non-projectable form can effectively camouflage the presence of a preferred frame in regions where the Newtonian gravitational field gradient is higher than $cH_0$; this modification results in the phenomenology of MOND at lower accelerations.
Several models of Quantum Gravity predict Lorentz Symmetry breaking at energy scales approaching the Planck scale (10^{19} GeV). With present photon data from the observations of distant astrophysical sources, it is possible to constrain the Lorentz Symmetry breaking linear term in the standard photon dispersion relations. Gamma-ray Bursts (GRB) and flaring Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) are complementary to each other for this purpose, since they are observed at different distances in different energy ranges and with different levels of variability. Following a previous publication of the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) collaboration, a more sensitive event-by-event method consisting of a likelihood fit is applied to PKS 2155-304 flare data of MJD 53944 (July 28, 2006) as used in the previous publication. The previous limit on the linear term is improved by a factor of ~3 up to M^{l}_{QG} > 2.1x10^{18} GeV and is currently the best result obtained with blazars. The sensitivity to the quadratic term is lower and provides a limit of M^{q}_{QG} > 6.4x10^10 GeV, which is the best value obtained so far with an AGN and similar to the best limits obtained with GRB.
PKS 2155-304 is one of the brightest blazar located in Southern Hemisphere, monitored with H.E.S.S. since the first light of the experiment. Here we report multiwavelength monitoring observations collected during the period of 2015-2016 with H.E.S.S.,Fermi-LAT, Swift-XRT, Swift-UVOT, and ATOM. Two years of multiwavelength data with very good temporal coverage allowed to characterize broadband emission observed from the region of PKS 2155-304 and study potential multifrequency correlations. During the period of monitoring, PKS 2155-304 revealed complex multiwavelength variability with two outbursts characterized by completely different multiband properties. The 2015 activity of the blazar is characterized by a flare observed at all wavelengths studied. The broadband emission observed during the outburst is well correlated without any time lags. Contrary to 2015, in 2016, only orphan outburst in the optical and ultraviolet wavelengths was observed. Such an orphan activity is reported for the first time for the blazar PKS 2155-304.