No Arabic abstract
HESS J1943+213, a TeV point source close to the Galactic plane recently discovered by the H.E.S.S. collaboration, was proposed to be an extreme BL Lacertae object, though a pulsar wind nebula (PWN) nature could not be completely discarded. To investigate its nature, we performed high-resolution radio observations with the European Very Long Baseline Interferometry Network (EVN) and reanalyzed archival continuum and H {sc i} data. The EVN observations revealed a compact radio counterpart of the TeV source. The low brightness temperature and the resolved nature of the radio source are indications against the beamed BL Lacertae hypothesis. The radio/X-ray source appears immersed in a $sim$ 1arcmin elliptical feature suggesting a possible galactic origin (PWN nature) for the HESS source. We found that HESS,J1943+213 is located in the interior of a $sim1degr$ diameter H {sc i} feature, and explored the possibility of they being physically related.
The very-high energy (VHE, E > 100 GeV) gamma-ray sky shows diverse Galactic and extragalactic source populations. For some sources the astrophysical object class could not be identified so far. The nature (Galactic or extragalactic) of the VHE gamma-ray source HESS J1943+213 is explored. We specifically investigate the proposed near-infrared counterpart 2MASS J19435624+2118233 of HESS J1943+213 and investigate the implications of a physical association. We present K-band imaging from the 3.5 meter CAHA telescope of 2MASS J19435624+2118233. Furthermore, 5 years of Fermi-LAT data were analyzed to search for a high-energy (HE, 100 MeV <E< 100 GeV) counterpart. The CAHA observations revealed that the near-infrared counterpart is extended with an intrinsic half light radius of 2 - 2.5 . These observations also show a smooth, centrally concentrated light profile that is typical of a galaxy, and thus point toward an extragalactic scenario for the VHE gamma-ray source, assuming that the near-infrared source is the counterpart of HESS J1943+213. A high-Sersic index profile provides a better fit than an exponential profile, indicating that the surface brightness profile of 2MASS J19435624+2118233 follows that of a typical, massive elliptical galaxy more closely than that of a disk galaxy. With Fermi-LAT a HE counterpart is found with a power law spectrum above 1 GeV. This gamma-ray spectrum shows a rather sharp break between the HE and VHE regimes. The infrared and HE data strongly favor an extragalactic origin of HESS J1943+213 The source is most likely located at a redshift between 0.03 and 0.45 according to extension and EBL attenuation arguments.
We report on a newly detected point-like source, HESS J1943+213 located in the Galactic plane. This source coincides with an unidentified hard X-ray source IGR J19443+2117, which was proposed to have radio and infrared counterparts. HESS J1943+213 is detected at the significance level of 7.9 sigma (post-trials) at RA(J2000)=19h 43m 55s +- 1s (stat) +- 1s (sys), DEC(J2000) = +21deg 18 8 +- 17 (stat) +- 20 (sys). The source has a soft spectrum with photon index Gamma = 3.1 +- 0.3 (stat) +- 0.2 (sys) and a flux above 470 GeV of 1.3 +- 0.2 (stat) +- 0.3 (sys) x 10^{-12} cm^{-2} s^{-1}. There is no Fermi/LAT counterpart down to a flux limit of 6 x 10^{-9} cm^{-2} s^{-1} in the 0.1-100 GeV energy range (95% confidence upper limit calculated for an assumed power-law model with a photon index Gamma=2.0). The data from radio to VHE gamma-rays do not show any significant variability. We combine new H.E.S.S., Fermi/LAT and Nancay Radio Telescope observations with pre-existing non-simultaneous multi-wavelength observations of IGR J19443+2117 and discuss the likely source associations as well as the interpretation as an active galactic nucleus, a gamma-ray binary or a pulsar wind nebula. The lack of a massive stellar counterpart disfavors the binary hypothesis, while the soft VHE spectrum would be very unusual in case of a pulsar wind nebula. In addition, the distance estimates for Galactic counterparts places them outside of the Milky Way. All available observations favor an interpretation as an extreme, high-frequency peaked BL Lac object with a redshift z>0.14. This would be the first time a blazar is detected serendipitously from ground-based VHE observations, and the first VHE AGN detected in the Galactic Plane.
HESS J1943+213 is a very-high-energy (VHE; $>$100 GeV) $gamma$-ray source in the direction of the Galactic Plane. Studies exploring the classification of the source are converging towards its identification as an extreme synchrotron BL Lac object. Here we present 38 hours of VERITAS observations of HESS J1943+213 taken over two years. The source is detected with $sim$20 standard deviations significance, showing a remarkably stable flux and spectrum in VHE $gamma$-rays. Multi-frequency very-long-baseline array (VLBA) observations of the source confirm the extended, jet-like structure previously found in the 1.6 GHz band with European VLBI Network and detect this component in the 4.6 GHz and the 7.3 GHz bands. The radio spectral indices of the core and the jet and the level of polarization derived from the VLBA observations are in a range typical for blazars. Data from VERITAS, $Fermi$-LAT, $Swift$-XRT, FLWO 48$$ telescope, and archival infrared and hard X-ray observations are used to construct and model the spectral energy distribution (SED) of the source with a synchrotron-self-Compton model. The well-measured $gamma$-ray peak of the SED with VERITAS and $Fermi$-LAT provides constraining upper limits on the source redshift. Possible contribution of secondary $gamma$-rays from ultra-high-energy cosmic ray-initiated electromagnetic cascades to the $gamma$-ray emission is explored, finding that only a segment of the VHE spectrum can be accommodated with this process. A variability search is performed across X-ray and $gamma$-ray bands. No statistically significant flux or spectral variability is detected.
We report on our study of high-energy properties of two peculiar TeV emitters: the extreme blazar 1ES 0347-121 and the extreme blazar candidate HESS J1943+213 located near the Galactic Plane. Both objects are characterized by quiescent synchrotron emission with flat spectra extending up to the hard X-ray range, and both were reported to be missing GeV counterparts in the Fermi-LAT 2-year Source Catalog. We analyze a 4.5 year accumulation of the Fermi-LAT data, resulting in the detection of 1ES 0347-121 in the GeV band, as well as in improved upper limits for HESS J1943+213. We also present the analysis results of newly acquired Suzaku data for HESS J1943+213. The X-ray spectrum is well represented by a single power law extending up to 25 keV with photon index 2.00+/-0.02 and a moderate absorption in excess of the Galactic value, in agreement with previous X-ray observations. No short-term X-ray variability was found over the 80 ks duration of the Suzaku exposure. Under the blazar hypothesis, we modeled the spectral energy distributions of 1ES 0347-121 and HESS J1943+213, and derived constraints on the intergalactic magnetic field strength and source energetics. We conclude that although the classification of HESS J1943+213 has not yet been determined, the blazar hypothesis remains the most plausible option, since in particular the broad-band spectra of the two analyzed sources along with the source model parameters closely resemble each other, and the newly available WISE and UKIDSS data for HESS J1943+213 are consistent with the presence of an elliptical host at the distance of approximately ~600 Mpc.
We examine the new Galactic supernova remnant (SNR) candidate, G23.11+0.18, as seen by the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) radio telescope. We describe the morphology of the candidate and find a spectral index of -0.63+/-0.05 in the 70-170MHz domain. A coincident TeV gamma-ray detection in High-Energy Stereoscopic System (HESS) data supports the SNR nature of G23.11+0.18 and suggests that G23.11+0.18 is accelerating particles beyond TeV energies, thus making this object a promising new cosmic ray hadron source candidate. The remnant cannot be seen in current optical, infrared and X-ray data-sets. We do find, however, a dip in CO-traced molecular gas at a line-of-sight velocity of ~85 km/s, suggesting the existence of a G23.11+0.18 progenitor wind-blown bubble. Furthermore, the discovery of molecular gas clumps at a neighbouring velocity towards HESS J1832-085 adheres to the notion that a hadronic gamma-ray production mechanism is plausible towards the north of the remnant. Based on these morphological arguments, we propose an interstellar medium association for G23.11+0.18 at a kinematic distance of 4.6+/-0.8 kpc.