Rapid TeV gamma-ray flaring of BL Lacertae

We report on the detection of a very rapid TeV gamma-ray flare from BL Lacertae on 2011 June 28 with the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS). The flaring activity was observed during a 34.6 minute exposure, when the integral flux above 200 GeV reached (3.4 ± 0.6) × 10-6...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado: 2013
Materias:
galaxies: active
gamma rays: galaxies
Acceso en línea:https://bibliotecadigital.exactas.uba.ar/collection/paper/document/paper_0004637X_v762_n2_p_Arlen
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_0004637X_v762_n2_p_Arlen
Aporte de:
Biblioteca Digital - Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (UBA) de Universidad de Buenos Aires
id paper:paper_0004637X_v762_n2_p_Arlen
record_format dspace
spelling paper:paper_0004637X_v762_n2_p_Arlen2023-06-08T14:29:09Z Rapid TeV gamma-ray flaring of BL Lacertae galaxies: active gamma rays: galaxies We report on the detection of a very rapid TeV gamma-ray flare from BL Lacertae on 2011 June 28 with the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS). The flaring activity was observed during a 34.6 minute exposure, when the integral flux above 200 GeV reached (3.4 ± 0.6) × 10-6 photons m-2 s-1, roughly 125% of the Crab Nebula flux measured by VERITAS. The light curve indicates that the observations missed the rising phase of the flare but covered a significant portion of the decaying phase. The exponential decay time was determined to be 13 ± 4 minutes, making it one of the most rapid gamma-ray flares seen from a TeV blazar. The gamma-ray spectrum of BL Lacertae during the flare was soft, with a photon index of 3.6 ± 0.4, which is in agreement with the measurement made previously by MAGIC in a lower flaring state. Contemporaneous radio observations of the source with the Very Long Baseline Array revealed the emergence of a new, superluminal component from the core around the time of the TeV gamma-ray flare, accompanied by changes in the optical polarization angle. Changes in flux also appear to have occurred at optical, UV, and GeV gamma-ray wavelengths at the time of the flare, although they are difficult to quantify precisely due to sparse coverage. A strong flare was seen at radio wavelengths roughly four months later, which might be related to the gamma-ray flaring activities. We discuss the implications of these multiwavelength results. © 2013. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.. 2013 https://bibliotecadigital.exactas.uba.ar/collection/paper/document/paper_0004637X_v762_n2_p_Arlen http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_0004637X_v762_n2_p_Arlen
institution Universidad de Buenos Aires
institution_str I-28
repository_str R-134
collection Biblioteca Digital - Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (UBA)
topic galaxies: active
gamma rays: galaxies
spellingShingle galaxies: active
gamma rays: galaxies
Rapid TeV gamma-ray flaring of BL Lacertae
topic_facet galaxies: active
gamma rays: galaxies
description We report on the detection of a very rapid TeV gamma-ray flare from BL Lacertae on 2011 June 28 with the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS). The flaring activity was observed during a 34.6 minute exposure, when the integral flux above 200 GeV reached (3.4 ± 0.6) × 10-6 photons m-2 s-1, roughly 125% of the Crab Nebula flux measured by VERITAS. The light curve indicates that the observations missed the rising phase of the flare but covered a significant portion of the decaying phase. The exponential decay time was determined to be 13 ± 4 minutes, making it one of the most rapid gamma-ray flares seen from a TeV blazar. The gamma-ray spectrum of BL Lacertae during the flare was soft, with a photon index of 3.6 ± 0.4, which is in agreement with the measurement made previously by MAGIC in a lower flaring state. Contemporaneous radio observations of the source with the Very Long Baseline Array revealed the emergence of a new, superluminal component from the core around the time of the TeV gamma-ray flare, accompanied by changes in the optical polarization angle. Changes in flux also appear to have occurred at optical, UV, and GeV gamma-ray wavelengths at the time of the flare, although they are difficult to quantify precisely due to sparse coverage. A strong flare was seen at radio wavelengths roughly four months later, which might be related to the gamma-ray flaring activities. We discuss the implications of these multiwavelength results. © 2013. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved..
title Rapid TeV gamma-ray flaring of BL Lacertae
title_short Rapid TeV gamma-ray flaring of BL Lacertae
title_full Rapid TeV gamma-ray flaring of BL Lacertae
title_fullStr Rapid TeV gamma-ray flaring of BL Lacertae
title_full_unstemmed Rapid TeV gamma-ray flaring of BL Lacertae
title_sort rapid tev gamma-ray flaring of bl lacertae
publishDate 2013
url https://bibliotecadigital.exactas.uba.ar/collection/paper/document/paper_0004637X_v762_n2_p_Arlen
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_0004637X_v762_n2_p_Arlen
_version_ 1768544938762436608

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