ترغب بنشر مسار تعليمي؟ اضغط هنا

The June 2008 flare of Markarian 421 from optical to TeV energies

184   0   0.0 ( 0 )
 نشر من قبل Robert Wagner
 تاريخ النشر 2009
  مجال البحث فيزياء
والبحث باللغة English
 تأليف R. M. Wagner




اسأل ChatGPT حول البحث

We present optical to very-high energy (VHE) gamma-ray observations of Mrk 421 between 2008 May 24 and June 23. A high-energy (HE) gamma-ray signal was detected by AGILE-GRID during June 9-15, brighter than the average flux observed by EGRET in Mrk 421 by a factor of approx. 1.5. In 20-60 keV X-rays, a large-amplitude 5-day flare (June 9-15) was resolved with a maximum flux of approx. 55 mCrab. SuperAGILE, RXTE/ASM and Swift/BAT data show a clearly correlated flaring structure between soft and hard X-rays, with a high flux/amplitude variability in hard X-rays. Hints of the same flaring behavior is also detected in the simultaneously recorded GASP-WEBT optical data. A target of opportunity observation by Swift near the flare maximum on June 12-13 revealed the highest 2-10 keV flux ever observed (>100 mCrab) and a peak synchrotron energy of approx. 3 keV, a large shift from typical values of 0.5-1 keV. Observations at VHE (E>200 GeV) gamma-rays during June 6-8 show the source flux peaking in a bright state, well correlated with the simultaneous peak in the X-rays. The gamma-ray flare can be interpreted within the framework of the Synchrotron Self Compton model in terms of a rapid acceleration of leptons in the jet.



قيم البحث

اقرأ أيضاً

We present optical, X-ray, high energy ($lessapprox 30$ GeV) and very high energy ($gtrapprox 100$ GeV; VHE) observations of the high-frequency peaked blazar Mrk 421 taken between 2008 May 24 and June 23. A high energy $gamma$-ray signal was detected by AGILE with sqrt{TS}=4.5 on June 9--15, with $F(E>100 mathrm{MeV})= 42^{+14}_{-12}times 10^{-8}$ photons cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$. This flaring state is brighter than the average flux observed by EGRET by a factor of $sim$3, but still consistent with the highest EGRET flux. In hard X-rays (20-60 keV) SuperAGILE resolved a 5-day flare (June 9-15) peaking at $sim$ 55 mCrab. SuperAGILE, RXTE/ASM and Swift/BAT data show a correlated flaring structure between soft and hard X-rays. Hints of the same flaring behavior are also detected in the simultaneous optical data provided by the GASP-WEBT. A Swift/XRT observation near the flaring maximum revealed the highest 2-10 keV flux ever observed from this source, of 2.6 $times 10^{-9}$ erg cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ (i.e. > 100 mCrab). A peak synchrotron energy of $sim$3 keV was derived, higher than typical values of $sim$0.5-1 keV. VHE observations with MAGIC and VERITAS on June 6-8 show the flux peaking in a bright state, well correlated with the X-rays. This extraordinary set of simultaneous data, covering a twelve-decade spectral range, allowed for a deep analysis of the spectral energy distribution as well as of correlated light curves. The $gamma$-ray flare can be interpreted within the framework of the synchrotron self-Compton model in terms of a rapid acceleration of leptons in the jet.
The detection of spectral variability of the gamma-ray blazar Mrk 421 at TeV energies is reported. Observations with the Whipple Observatory 10m gamma-ray telescope taken in 2000/2001 revealed exceptionally strong and long-lasting flaring activity. Flaring levels of 0.4 to 13 times that of the Crab Nebula flux provided sufficient statistics for a detailed study of the energy spectrum between 380 GeV and 8.2 TeV as a function of flux level. These spectra are well described by a power law with an exponential cutoff. There is no evidence for variation in the cutoff energy with flux, and all spectra are consistent with an average value for the cutoff energy of 4.3 TeV. The spectral index varies between 1.89 in a high flux state and 2.72 in a low state. The correlation between spectral index and flux is tight when averaging over the total 2000/2001 data set. Spectral measurements of Mrk~421 from previous years (1995/96 and 1999) by the Whipple collaboration are consistent with this flux-spectral index correlation, which suggest that this may be a constant or a long-term property of the source. If a similar flux-spectral index correlation were found for other gamma-ray blazars, this universal property could help disentangle the intrinsic emission mechanism from external absorption effects.
In September 2012, the high-synchrotron-peaked (HSP) blazar Markarian 421 underwent a rapid wideband radio flare, reaching nearly twice the brightest level observed in the centimeter band in over three decades of monitoring. In response to this event we carried out a five epoch centimeter- to millimeter-band multifrequency Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) campaign to investigate the aftermath of this emission event. Rapid radio variations are unprecedented in this object and are surprising in an HSP BL Lac object. In this flare, the 15 GHz flux density increased with an exponential doubling time of about 9 days, then faded to its prior level at a similar rate. This is comparable with the fastest large-amplitude centimeter-band radio variability observed in any blazar. Similar flux density increases were detected up to millimeter bands. This radio flare followed about two months after a similarly unprecedented GeV gamma-ray flare (reaching a daily E>100 MeV flux of (1.2 +/- 0.7)x10^(-6) ph cm^(-2) s^(-1)) reported by the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) collaboration, with a simultaneous tentative TeV detection by ARGO-YBJ. A cross-correlation analysis of long-term 15 GHz and LAT gamma-ray light curves finds a statistically significant correlation with the radio lagging ~40 days behind, suggesting that the gamma-ray emission originates upstream of the radio emission. Preliminary results from our VLBA observations show brightening in the unresolved core region and no evidence for apparent superluminal motions or substantial flux variations downstream.
The HBL-type blazar Markarian 421 is one of the brightest TeV gamma-ray sources of the Northern sky. From December 2007 until June 2008 it was intensively observed in the VHE (E>100 GeV) band by the MAGIC gamma-ray telescope. The source showed intens e and prolonged activity during the whole period. In some nights the integral flux rose up to 3.6 Crab units (E>200 GeV). Intra-night rapid flux variations were observed. We compared the optical (KVA) and X-ray (RXTE-ASM, Swift-XRT) data with the MAGIC VHE data, investigating the correlations between different energy bands.
The Major Atmospheric Gamma Imaging Cerenkov (MAGIC) telescope participated in three multiwavelength (MWL) campaigns, observing the blazar Markarian (Mkn) 421 during the nights of 2006 April 28, 29, and 2006 June 14. We analyzed the corresponding MAG IC very-high energy observations during 9 nights from 2006 April 22 to 30 and on 2006 June 14. We inferred light curves with sub-day resolution and night-by-night energy spectra. A strong gamma-ray signal was detected from Mkn 421 on all observation nights. The flux (E > 250 GeV) varied on night-by-night basis between (0.92+-0.11)10^-10 cm^-2 s^-1 (0.57 Crab units) and (3.21+-0.15)10^-10 cm^-2 s^-1 (2.0 Crab units) in 2006 April. There is a clear indication for intra-night variability with a doubling time of 36+-10(stat) minutes on the night of 2006 April 29, establishing once more rapid flux variability for this object. For all individual nights gamma-ray spectra could be inferred, with power-law indices ranging from 1.66 to 2.47. We did not find statistically significant correlations between the spectral index and the flux state for individual nights. During the June 2006 campaign, a flux substantially lower than the one measured by the Whipple 10-m telescope four days later was found. Using a log-parabolic power law fit we deduced for some data sets the location of the spectral peak in the very-high energy regime. Our results confirm the indications of rising peak energy with increasing flux, as expected in leptonic acceleration models.
التعليقات
جاري جلب التعليقات جاري جلب التعليقات
سجل دخول لتتمكن من متابعة معايير البحث التي قمت باختيارها
mircosoft-partner

هل ترغب بارسال اشعارات عن اخر التحديثات في شمرا-اكاديميا