No Arabic abstract
The high-frequency-peaked BL Lacertae object RGB J0710+591 was observed in the very high-energy (VHE; E > 100 GeV) wave band by the VERITAS array of atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes. The observations, taken between 2008 December and 2009 March and totaling 22.1 hr, yield the discovery of VHE gamma rays from the source. RGB J0710+591 is detected at a statistical significance of 5.5 standard deviations (5.5{sigma}) above the background, corresponding to an integral flux of (3.9 +/- 0.8) x 10-12 cm-2 s-1 (3% of the Crab Nebulas flux) above 300 GeV. The observed spectrum can be fit by a power law from 0.31 to 4.6 TeV with a photon spectral index of 2.69 +/- 0.26stat +/- 0.20sys. These data are complemented by contemporaneous multiwavelength data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope, the Swift X-ray Telescope, the Swift Ultra-Violet and Optical Telescope, and the Michigan-Dartmouth-MIT observatory. Modeling the broadband spectral energy distribution (SED) with an equilibrium synchrotron self-Compton model yields a good statistical fit to the data. The addition of an external-Compton component to the model does not improve the fit nor brings the system closer to equipartition. The combined Fermi and VERITAS data constrain the properties of the high-energy emission component of the source over 4 orders of magnitude and give measurements of the rising and falling sections of the SED.
We report the analysis of simultaneous multi-wavelength data of the high energy peaked blazar RGB J0710+591 from the LAXPC, SXT and UVIT instruments on-board AstroSat. The wide band X-ray spectrum (0.35 -- 30 keV) is modelled as synchrotron emission from a non-thermal distribution of high energy electrons. The spectrum is unusually curved, with a curvature parameter $beta_p sim 6.4$ for a log parabola particle distribution, or a high energy spectral index $p_2 > 4.5$ for a broken power-law distribution. The spectrum shows more curvature than an earlier quasi-simultaneous analysis of Swift-XRT/NuSTAR data where the parameters were $beta_p sim 2.2$ or $p_2 sim 4$. It has long been known that a power-law electron distribution can be produced from a region where particles are accelerated under Fermi process and the radiative losses in acceleration site decide the maximum attainable Lorentz factor, $gamma_{max}$. Consequently, this quantity decides the energy at which the spectrum curves steeply. We show that such a distribution provides a more natural explanation for the AstroSat data as well as the earlier XRT/NuSTAR observation, making this as the first well constrained determination of the photon energy corresponding to $gamma_{max}$. This in turn provides an estimate of the acceleration time-scale as a function of magnetic field and Doppler factor. The UVIT observations are consistent with earlier optical/UV measurements and reconfirm that they plausibly correspond to a different radiative component than the one responsible for the X-ray emission.
The number of known very high energy (VHE) blazars is $sim,50$, which is very small in comparison to the number of blazars detected in other frequencies. This situation is a handicap for population studies of blazars, which emit about half of their luminosity in the $gamma$-ray domain. Moreover, VHE blazars, if distant, allow for the study of the environment that the high-energy $gamma$-rays traverse in their path towards the Earth, like the extragalactic background light (EBL) and the intergalactic magnetic field (IGMF), and hence they have a special interest for the astrophysics community. We present the first VHE detection of 1ES,0033+595 with a statistical significance of 5.5,$sigma$. The VHE emission of this object is constant throughout the MAGIC observations (2009 August and October), and can be parameterized with a power law with an integral flux above 150 GeV of $(7.1pm1.3)times 10^{-12} {mathrm{ph,cm^{-2},s^{-1}}}$ and a photon index of ($3.8pm0.7$). We model its spectral energy distribution (SED) as the result of inverse Compton scattering of synchrotron photons. For the study of the SED we used simultaneous optical R-band data from the KVA telescope, archival X-ray data by textit{Swift} as well as textit{INTEGRAL}, and simultaneous high energy (HE, $300$,MeV~--~$10$,GeV) $gamma$-ray data from the textit{Fermi} LAT observatory. Using the empirical approach of Prandini et al. (2010) and the textit{Fermi}-LAT and MAGIC spectra for this object, we estimate the redshift of this source to be $0.34pm0.08pm0.05$. This is a relevant result because this source is possibly one of the ten most distant VHE blazars known to date, and with further (simultaneous) observations could play an important role in blazar population studies, as well as future constraints on the EBL and IGMF.
We report the discovery of high-energy (E>100 MeV) gamma-ray emission from NGC 1275, a giant elliptical galaxy lying at the center of the Perseus cluster of galaxies, based on observations made with the Large Area Telescope (LAT) of the Fermi Gamma ray Space Telescope. The positional center of the gamma-ray source is only ~3 away from the NGC 1275 nucleus, well within the 95% LAT error circle of ~5.The spatial distribution of gamma-ray photons is consistent with a point source. The average flux and power-law photon index measured with the LAT from 2008 August 4 to 2008 December 5 are F_gamma = (2.10+-0.23)x 10^{-7} ph (>100 MeV) cm^{-2} s^{-1} and Gamma = 2.17+-0.05, respectively. The measurements are statistically consistent with constant flux during the four-month LAT observing period.Previous EGRET observations gave an upper limit of F_gamma < 3.72x 10 ^{-8} ph (>100 MeV) cm^{-2} s^{-1} to the gamma-ray flux from NGC 1275. This indicates that the source is variable on timescales of years to decades, and therefore restricts the fraction of emission that can be produced in extended regions of the galaxy cluster. Contemporaneous and historical radio observations are also reported. The broadband spectrum of NGC 1275 is modeled with a simple one-zone synchrotron/synchrotron self-Compton model and a model with a decelerating jet flow.
Motivated by the Costamante & Ghisellini (2002) predictions we investigated if the blazar 1ES 1727+502 (z=0.055) is emitting very high energy (VHE, E>100 GeV) gamma rays. We observed the BL Lac object 1ES 1727+502 in stereoscopic mode with the two MAGIC telescopes during 14 nights between May 6th and June 10th 2011, for a total effective observing time of 12.6 hours. For the study of the multiwavelength spectral energy distribution (SED) we use simultaneous optical R-band data from the KVA telescope, archival UV/optical and X-ray observations by instruments UVOT and XRT on board of the Swift satellite and high energy (HE, 0.1 GeV - 100 GeV) gamma-ray data from the Fermi-LAT instrument. We detect, for the first time, VHE gamma-ray emission from 1ES 1727+502 at a statistical significance of 5.5 sigma. The integral flux above 150 GeV is estimated to be (2.1pm0.4)% of the Crab Nebula flux and the de-absorbed VHE spectrum has a photon index of (2.7pm0.5). No significant short-term variability was found in any of the wavebands presented here. We model the SED using a one-zone synchrotron self-Compton model obtaining parameters typical for this class of sources.
Context. QSO B0218+357 is a gravitationally lensed blazar located at a redshift of 0.944. The gravitational lensing splits the emitted radiation into two components, spatially indistinguishable by gamma-ray instruments, but separated by a 10-12 day delay. In July 2014, QSO B0218+357 experienced a violent flare observed by the Fermi-LAT and followed by the MAGIC telescopes. Aims. The spectral energy distribution of QSO B0218+357 can give information on the energetics of z ~ 1 very high energy gamma- ray sources. Moreover the gamma-ray emission can also be used as a probe of the extragalactic background light at z ~ 1. Methods. MAGIC performed observations of QSO B0218+357 during the expected arrival time of the delayed component of the emission. The MAGIC and Fermi-LAT observations were accompanied by quasi-simultaneous optical data from the KVA telescope and X-ray observations by Swift-XRT. We construct a multiwavelength spectral energy distribution of QSO B0218+357 and use it to model the source. The GeV and sub-TeV data, obtained by Fermi-LAT and MAGIC, are used to set constraints on the extragalactic background light. Results. Very high energy gamma-ray emission was detected from the direction of QSO B0218+357 by the MAGIC telescopes during the expected time of arrival of the trailing component of the flare, making it the farthest very high energy gamma-ray sources detected to date. The observed emission spans the energy range from 65 to 175 GeV. The combined MAGIC and Fermi-LAT spectral energy distribution of QSO B0218+357 is consistent with current extragalactic background light models. The broad band emission can be modeled in the framework of a two zone external Compton scenario, where the GeV emission comes from an emission region in the jet, located outside the broad line region.