@article{ArchambaultArcherBenbowetal.2017, author = {Archambault, S. and Archer, A. and Benbow, W. and Buchovecky, M. and Bugaev, V. and Cerruti, M. and Connolly, M. P. and Cui, W. and Falcone, A. and Alonso, M. Fernandez and Finley, J. P. and Fleischhack, H. and Fortson, L. and Furniss, A. and Griffin, S. and Hutten, M. and Hervet, O. and Holder, J. and Humensky, T. B. and Johnson, C. A. and Kaaret, P. and Kar, P. and Kieda, D. and Krause, M. and Krennrich, F. and Lang, M. J. and Lin, T. T. Y. and Maier, G. and McArthur, S. and Moriarty, P. and Nieto, D. and Ong, R. A. and Otte, A. N. and Pohl, M. and Popkow, A. and Pueschel, Elisa and Quinn, J. and Ragan, K. and Reynolds, P. T. and Richards, G. T. and Roache, E. and Rovero, A. C. and Sadeh, I. and Shahinyan, K. and Staszak, D. and Telezhinsky, Igor O. and Tyler, J. and Wakely, S. P. and Weinstein, A. and Weisgarber, T. and Wilcox, P. and Wilhelm, Alina and Williams, D. A. and Zitzer, B.}, title = {Search for Magnetically Broadened Cascade Emission from Blazars with VERITAS}, series = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics}, volume = {835}, journal = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics}, number = {2}, publisher = {IOP Publ. Ltd.}, address = {Bristol}, issn = {0004-637X}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/835/2/288}, pages = {12}, year = {2017}, abstract = {We present a search for magnetically broadened gamma-ray emission around active galactic nuclei (AGNs), using VERITAS observations of seven hard-spectrum blazars. A cascade process occurs when multi-TeV gamma-rays from an AGN interact with extragalactic background light (EBL) photons to produce electron-positron pairs, which then interact with cosmic microwave background photons via inverse-Compton scattering to produce gamma-rays. Due to the deflection of the electron- positron pairs, a non-zero intergalactic magnetic field (IGMF) would potentially produce detectable effects on the angular distribution of the cascade emission. In particular, an angular broadening compared to the unscattered emission could occur. Through non-detection of angularly broadened emission from 1ES 1218 vertical bar 304, the source with the largest predicted cascade fraction, we exclude a range of IGMF strengths around 10(-14) G at the 95\% confidence level. The extent of the exclusion range varies with the assumptions made about the intrinsic spectrum of 1ES. 1218+304 and the EBL model used in the simulation of the cascade process. All of the sources are used to set limits on the flux due to extended emission.}, language = {en} } @article{AhnenAnsoldiAntonellietal.2017, author = {Ahnen, M. L. and Ansoldi, S. and Antonelli, L. A. and Antoranz, P. and Babic, A. and Banerjee, B. and Bangale, P. and de Almeida, U. Barres and Barrio, J. A. and Gonzalez, J. Becerra and Bednarek, W. and Bernardini, E. and Berti, A. and Biasuzzi, B. and Biland, A. and Blanch, O. and Bonnefoy, S. and Bonnoli, G. and Borracci, F. and Bretz, T. and Buson, S. and Carosi, A. and Chatterjee, A. and Clavero, R. and Colin, P. and Colombo, E. and Contreras, J. L. and Cortina, J. and Covino, S. and Da Vela, P. and Dazzi, F. and De Angelis, A. and De Lotto, B. and Wilhelmi, E. de Ona and Di Pierro, F. and Doert, M. and Dominguez, A. and Prester, D. Dominis and Dorner, D. and Doro, M. and Einecke, S. and Glawion, D. Eisenacher and Elsaesser, D. and Engelkemeier, M. and Ramazani, V. Fallah and Fernandez-Barral, A. and Fidalgo, D. and Fonseca, M. V. and Font, L. and Frantzen, K. and Fruck, C. and Galindo, D. and Lopez, R. J. Garcia and Garczarczyk, M. and Terrats, D. Garrido and Gaug, M. and Giammaria, P. and Godinovic, N. and Gonzalez Munoz, A. and Gora, D. and Guberman, D. and Hadasch, D. and Hahn, A. and Hanabata, Y. and Hayashida, M. and Herrera, J. and Hose, J. and Hrupec, D. and Hughes, G. and Idec, W. and Kodani, K. and Konno, Y. and Kubo, H. and Kushida, J. and La Barbera, A. and Lelas, D. and Lindfors, E. and Lombardi, S. and Longo, F. and Lopez, M. and Lopez-Coto, R. and Majumdar, P. and Makariev, M. and Mallot, K. and Maneva, G. and Manganaro, M. and Mannheim, K. and Maraschi, L. and Marcote, B. and Mariotti, M. and Martinez, M. and Mazin, D. and Menzel, U. and Miranda, J. M. and Mirzoyan, R. and Moralejo, A. and Moretti, E. and Nakajima, D. and Neustroev, V. and Niedzwiecki, A. and Rosillo, M. Nievas and Nilsson, K. and Nishijima, K. and Noda, K. and Nogues, L. and Overkemping, A. and Paiano, S. and Palacio, J. and Palatiello, M. and Paneque, D. and Paoletti, R. and Paredes, J. M. and Paredes-Fortuny, X. and Pedaletti, G. and Peresano, M. and Perri, L. and Persic, M. and Poutanen, J. and Moroni, P. G. Prada and Prandini, E. and Puljak, I. and Reichardt, I. and Rhode, W. and Ribo, M. and Rico, J. and Rodriguez Garcia, J. and Saito, T. and Satalecka, K. and Schroder, S. and Schultz, C. and Schweizer, T. and Shore, S. N. and Sillanpaa, A. and Sitarek, J. and Snidaric, I. and Sobczynska, D. and Stamerra, A. and Steinbring, T. and Strzys, M. and Suric, T. and Takalo, L. and Tavecchio, F. and Temnikov, P. and Terzic, T. and Tescaro, D. and Teshima, M. and Thaele, J. and Torres, D. F. and Toyama, T. and Treves, A. and Vanzo, G. and Verguilov, V. and Vovk, I. and Ward, J. E. and Will, M. and Wu, M. H. and Zanin, R. and Abeysekara, A. U. and Archambault, S. and Archer, A. and Benbow, W. and Bird, R. and Buchovecky, M. and Buckley, J. H. and Bugaev, V. and Connolly, M. P. and Cui, W. and Dickinson, H. J. and Falcone, A. and Feng, Q. and Finley, J. P. and Fleischhack, H. and Flinders, A. and Fortson, L. and Gillanders, G. H. and Griffin, S. and Grube, J. and Huetten, M. and Hanna, D. and Holder, J. and Humensky, T. B. and Kaaret, P. and Kar, P. and Kelley-Hoskins, N. and Kertzman, M. and Kieda, D. and Krause, M. and Krennrich, F. and Lang, M. J. and Maier, G. and McCann, A. and Moriarty, P. and Mukherjee, R. and Nieto, D. and Ong, R. A. and Otte, N. and Park, N. and Perkins, J. and Pichel, A. and Pohl, M. and Popkow, A. and Pueschel, Elisa and Quinn, J. and Ragan, K. and Reynolds, P. T. and Richards, G. T. and Roache, E. and Rovero, A. C. and Rulten, C. and Sadeh, I. and Santander, M. and Sembroski, G. H. and Shahinyan, K. and Telezhinsky, Igor O. and Tucci, J. V. and Tyler, J. and Wakely, S. P. and Weinstein, A. and Wilcox, P. and Wilhelm, Alina and Williams, D. A. and Zitzer, B. and Razzaque, S. and Villata, M. and Raiteri, C. M. and Aller, H. D. and Aller, M. F. and Larionov, V. M. and Arkharov, A. A. and Blinov, D. A. and Efimova, N. V. and Grishina, T. S. and Hagen-Thorn, V. A. and Kopatskaya, E. N. and Larionova, L. V. and Larionova, E. G. and Morozova, D. A. and Troitsky, I. S. and Ligustri, R. and Calcidese, P. and Berdyugin, A. and Kurtanidze, O. M. and Nikolashvili, M. G. and Kimeridze, G. N. and Sigua, L. A. and Kurtanidze, S. O. and Chigladze, R. A. and Chen, W. P. and Koptelova, E. and Sakamoto, T. and Sadun, A. C. and Moody, J. W. and Pace, C. and Pearson, R. and Yatsu, Y. and Mori, Y. and Carraminyana, A. and Carrasco, L. and de la Fuente, E. and Norris, J. P. and Smith, P. S. and Wehrle, A. and Gurwell, M. A. and Zook, A. and Pagani, C. and Perri, M. and Capalbi, M. and Cesarini, A. and Krimm, H. A. and Kovalev, Y. Y. and Kovalev, Yu. A. and Ros, E. and Pushkarev, A. B. and Lister, M. L. and Sokolovsky, K. V. and Kadler, M. and Piner, G. and Lahteenmaki, A. and Tornikoski, M. and Angelakis, E. and Krichbaum, T. P. and Nestoras, I. and Fuhrmann, L. and Zensus, J. A. and Cassaro, P. and Orlati, A. and Maccaferri, G. and Leto, P. and Giroletti, M. and Richards, J. L. and Max-Moerbeck, W. and Readhead, A. C. S.}, title = {Multiband variability studies and novel broadband SED modeling of Mrk 501 in 2009}, series = {Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal}, volume = {603}, journal = {Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal}, publisher = {EDP Sciences}, address = {Les Ulis}, organization = {MAGIC Collaboration;VERITAS Collaboration}, issn = {1432-0746}, doi = {10.1051/0004-6361/201629540}, pages = {30}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Aims. We present an extensive study of the BL Lac object Mrk 501 based on a data set collected during the multi-instrument campaign spanning from 2009 March 15 to 2009 August 1, which includes, among other instruments, MAGIC, VERITAS, Whipple 10 m, and Fermi-LAT to cover the gamma-ray range from 0.1 GeV to 20 TeV; RXTE and Swift to cover wavelengths from UV to hard X-rays; and GASP-WEBT, which provides coverage of radio and optical wavelengths. Optical polarization measurements were provided for a fraction of the campaign by the Steward and St. Petersburg observatories. We evaluate the variability of the source and interband correlations, the gamma-ray flaring activity occurring in May 2009, and interpret the results within two synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) scenarios. Methods. The multiband variability observed during the full campaign is addressed in terms of the fractional variability, and the possible correlations are studied by calculating the discrete correlation function for each pair of energy bands where the significance was evaluated with dedicated Monte Carlo simulations. The space of SSC model parameters is probed following a dedicated grid-scan strategy, allowing for a wide range of models to be tested and offering a study of the degeneracy of model-to-data agreement in the individual model parameters, hence providing a less biased interpretation than the "single-curve SSC model adjustment" typically reported in the literature. Results. We find an increase in the fractional variability with energy, while no significant interband correlations of flux changes are found on the basis of the acquired data set. The SSC model grid-scan shows that the flaring activity around May 22 cannot be modeled adequately with a one-zone SSC scenario (using an electron energy distribution with two breaks), while it can be suitably described within a two (independent) zone SSC scenario. Here, one zone is responsible for the quiescent emission from the averaged 4.5-month observing period, while the other one, which is spatially separated from the first, dominates the flaring emission occurring at X-rays and very-high-energy (> 100 GeV, VHE) gamma-rays. The flaring activity from May 1, which coincides with a rotation of the electric vector polarization angle (EVPA), cannot be satisfactorily reproduced by either a one-zone or a two-independent-zone SSC model, yet this is partially affected by the lack of strictly simultaneous observations and the presence of large flux changes on sub-hour timescales (detected at VHE gamma rays). Conclusions. The higher variability in the VHE emission and lack of correlation with the X-ray emission indicate that, at least during the 4.5-month observing campaign in 2009, the highest energy (and most variable) electrons that are responsible for the VHE gamma rays do not make a dominant contribution to the similar to 1 keV emission. Alternatively, there could be a very variable component contributing to the VHE gamma-ray emission in addition to that coming from the SSC scenario. The studies with our dedicated SSC grid-scan show that there is some degeneracy in both the one-zone and the two-zone SSC scenarios probed, with several combinations of model parameters yielding a similar model-to-data agreement, and some parameters better constrained than others. The observed gamma-ray flaring activity, with the EVPA rotation coincident with the first gamma-ray flare, resembles those reported previously for low frequency peaked blazars, hence suggesting that there are many similarities in the flaring mechanisms of blazars with different jet properties.}, language = {en} } @article{AbeysekaraArcherBenbowetal.2019, author = {Abeysekara, A. U. and Archer, A. and Benbow, Wystan and Bird, Ralph and Brill, A. and Brose, Robert and Buchovecky, M. and Calderon-Madera, D. and Christiansen, J. L. and Cui, W. and Daniel, M. K. and Falcone, A. and Feng, Q. and Fernandez-Alonso, M. and Finley, J. P. and Fortson, Lucy and Furniss, Amy and Gent, A. and Giuri, C. and Gueta, O. and Hanna, David and Hassan, T. and Hervet, Oliver and Holder, J. and Hughes, G. and Humensky, T. B. and Johnson, Caitlin A. and Kaaret, P. and Kertzman, M. and Kieda, David and Krause, Maria and Krennrich, F. and Kumar, S. and Lang, M. J. and Maier, Gernot and Moriarty, P. and Mukherjee, Reshmi and Nievas-Rosillo, M. and Ong, R. A. and Pfrang, Konstantin Johannes and Pohl, Martin and Prado, R. R. and Pueschel, Elisa and Quinn, J. and Ragan, K. and Reynolds, P. T. and Ribeiro, D. and Richards, G. T. and Roache, E. and Rovero, A. C. and Sadeh, Iftach and Santander, M. and Sembroski, G. H. and Shahinyan, Karlen and Sushch, Iurii and Svraka, T. and Weinstein, A. and Wells, R. M. and Wilcox, Patrick and Wilhelm, Alina and Williams, David Arnold and Williamson, T. J. and Zitzer, B.}, title = {Measurement of the Extragalactic Background Light Spectral Energy Distribution with VERITAS}, series = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics}, volume = {885}, journal = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics}, number = {2}, publisher = {IOP Publ. Ltd.}, address = {Bristol}, issn = {0004-637X}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/ab4817}, pages = {8}, year = {2019}, abstract = {The extragalactic background light (EBL), a diffuse photon field in the optical and infrared range, is a record of radiative processes over the universe?s history. Spectral measurements of blazars at very high energies (>100 GeV) enable the reconstruction of the spectral energy distribution (SED) of the EBL, as the blazar spectra are modified by redshift- and energy-dependent interactions of the gamma-ray photons with the EBL. The spectra of 14 VERITAS-detected blazars are included in a new measurement of the EBL SED that is independent of EBL SED models. The resulting SED covers an EBL wavelength range of 0.56?56 ?m, and is in good agreement with lower limits obtained by assuming that the EBL is entirely due to radiation from cataloged galaxies.}, language = {en} } @article{AhnenAnsoldiAntonellietal.2018, author = {Ahnen, M. L. and Ansoldi, S. and Antonelli, L. A. and Arcaro, C. and Babic, A. and Banerjee, B. and Bangale, P. and Barres de Almeida, U. and Barrio, J. A. and Gonzalez, J. Becerra and Bednarek, W. and Bernardini, E. and Berti, A. and Bhattacharyya, W. and Blanch, O. and Bonnoli, G. and Carosi, R. and Carosi, A. and Chatterjee, A. and Colak, S. M. and Colin, P. and Colombo, E. and Contreras, J. L. and Cortina, J. and Covino, S. and Cumani, P. and Da Vela, P. and Dazzi, F. and De Angelis, A. and De Lotto, B. and Delfino, M. and Delgado, Jose Miguel Martins and Di Pierro, F. and Doert, M. and Dominguez, A. and Prester, D. Dominis and Doro, M. and Glawion, D. Eisenacher and Engelkemeier, M. and Ramazani, V. Fallah and Fernandez-Barral, A. and Fidalgo, D. and Fonseca, M. V. and Font, L. and Fruck, C. and Galindo, D. and Lopez, R. J. Garcia and Garczarczyk, M. and Gaug, M. and Giammaria, P. and Godinovic, N. and Gora, D. and Guberman, D. and Hadasch, D. and Hahn, A. and Hassan, T. and Hayashida, M. and Herrera, J. and Hose, J. and Hrupec, D. and Ishio, K. and Konno, Y. and Kubo, H. and Kushida, J. and Kuvezdic, D. and Lelas, D. and Lindfors, E. and Lombardi, S. and Longo, F. and Lopez, M. and Maggio, C. and Majumdar, P. and Makariev, M. and Maneva, G. and Manganaro, M. and Maraschi, L. and Mariotti, M. and Martinez, M. and Mazin, D. and Menzel, U. and Minev, M. and Miranda, J. M. and Mirzoyan, R. and Moralejo, A. and Moreno, V. and Moretti, E. and Nagayoshi, T. and Neustroev, V. and Niedzwiecki, A. and Nievas Rosillo, M. and Nigro, C. and Nilsson, K. and Ninci, D. and Nishijima, K. and Noda, K. and Nogues, L. and Paiano, S. and Palacio, J. and Paneque, D. and Paoletti, R. and Paredes, J. M. and Pedaletti, G. and Peresano, M. and Perri, L. and Persic, M. and Moroni, P. G. Prada and Prandini, E. and Puljak, I. and Garcia, J. R. and Reichardt, I. and Ribo, M. and Rico, J. and Righi, C. and Rugliancich, A. and Saito, T. and Satalecka, K. and Schroeder, S. and Schweizer, T. and Shore, S. N. and Sitarek, J. and Snidaric, I. and Sobczynska, D. and Stamerra, A. and Strzys, M. and Suric, T. and Takalo, L. and Tavecchio, F. and Temnikov, P. and Terzic, T. and Teshima, M. and Torres-Alba, N. and Treves, A. and Tsujimoto, S. and Vanzo, G. and Vazquez Acosta, M. and Vovk, I. and Ward, J. E. and Will, M. and Zaric, D. and Arbet-Engels, A. and Baack, D. and Balbo, M. and Biland, A. and Blank, M. and Bretz, T. and Bruegge, K. and Bulinski, M. and Buss, J. and Dmytriiev, A. and Dorner, D. and Einecke, S. and Elsaesser, D. and Herbst, T. and Hildebrand, D. and Kortmann, L. and Linhoff, L. and Mahlke, M. and Mannheim, K. and Mueller, S. A. and Neise, D. and Neronov, A. and Noethe, M. and Oberkirch, J. and Paravac, A. and Rhode, W. and Schleicher, B. and Schulz, F. and Sedlaczek, K. and Shukla, A. and Sliusar, V. and Walter, R. and Archer, A. and Benbow, W. and Bird, R. and Brose, Robert and Buckley, J. H. and Bugaev, V. and Christiansen, J. L. and Cui, W. and Daniel, M. K. and Falcone, A. and Feng, Q. and Finley, J. P. and Gillanders, G. H. and Gueta, O. and Hanna, D. and Hervet, O. and Holder, J. and Hughes, G. and Huetten, M. and Humensky, T. B. and Johnson, C. A. and Kaaret, P. and Kar, P. and Kelley-Hoskins, N. and Kertzman, M. and Kieda, D. and Krause, M. and Krennrich, F. and Kumar, S. and Lang, M. J. and Lin, T. T. Y. and Maier, G. and McArthur, S. and Moriarty, P. and Mukherjee, R. and Ong, R. A. and Otte, A. N. and Park, N. and Petrashyk, A. and Pichel, A. and Pohl, Martin and Quinn, J. and Ragan, K. and Reynolds, P. T. and Richards, G. T. and Roache, E. and Rovero, A. C. and Rulten, C. and Sadeh, I. and Santander, M. and Sembroski, G. H. and Shahinyan, K. and Sushch, Iurii and Tyler, J. and Wakely, S. P. and Weinstein, A. and Wells, R. M. and Wilcox, P. and Wilhel, A. and Williams, D. A. and Williamson, T. J. and Zitzer, B. and Perri, M. and Verrecchia, F. and Leto, C. and Villata, M. and Raiteri, C. M. and Jorstad, S. G. and Larionov, V. M. and Blinov, D. A. and Grishina, T. S. and Kopatskaya, E. N. and Larionova, E. G. and Nikiforova, A. A. and Morozova, D. A. and Troitskaya, Yu. V. and Troitsky, I. S. and Kurtanidze, O. M. and Nikolashvili, M. G. and Kurtanidze, S. O. and Kimeridze, G. N. and Chigladze, R. A. and Strigachev, A. and Sadun, A. C.}, title = {Extreme HBL behavior of Markarian 501 during 2012}, series = {Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal / European Southern Observatory (ESO)}, volume = {620}, journal = {Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal / European Southern Observatory (ESO)}, publisher = {EDP Sciences}, address = {Les Ulis}, organization = {MAGIC Collaboration FACT Collaboration VERITAS Collaboration}, issn = {1432-0746}, doi = {10.1051/0004-6361/201833704}, pages = {23}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Aims. We aim to characterize the multiwavelength emission from Markarian 501 (Mrk 501), quantify the energy-dependent variability, study the potential multiband correlations, and describe the temporal evolution of the broadband emission within leptonic theoretical scenarios. Methods. We organized a multiwavelength campaign to take place between March and July of 2012. Excellent temporal coverage was obtained with more than 25 instruments, including the MAGIC, FACT and VERITAS Cherenkov telescopes, the instruments on board the Swift and Fermi spacecraft, and the telescopes operated by the GASP-WEBT collaboration. Results. Mrk 501 showed a very high energy (VHE) gamma-ray flux above 0.2 TeV of similar to 0.5 times the Crab Nebula flux (CU) for most of the campaign. The highest activity occurred on 2012 June 9, when the VHE flux was similar to 3 CU, and the peak of the high-energy spectral component was found to be at similar to 2 TeV. Both the X-ray and VHE gamma-ray spectral slopes were measured to be extremely hard, with spectral indices <2 during most of the observing campaign, regardless of the X-ray and VHE flux. This study reports the hardest Mrk 501 VHE spectra measured to date. The fractional variability was found to increase with energy, with the highest variability occurring at VHE. Using the complete data set, we found correlation between the X-ray and VHE bands; however, if the June 9 flare is excluded, the correlation disappears (significance <3 sigma) despite the existence of substantial variability in the X-ray and VHE bands throughout the campaign. Conclusions. The unprecedentedly hard X-ray and VHE spectra measured imply that their low- and high-energy components peaked above 5 keV and 0.5 TeV, respectively, during a large fraction of the observing campaign, and hence that Mrk 501 behaved like an extreme high-frequency-peaked blazar (EHBL) throughout the 2012 observing season. This suggests that being an EHBL may not be a permanent characteristic of a blazar, but rather a state which may change over time. The data set acquired shows that the broadband spectral energy distribution (SED) of Mrk 501, and its transient evolution, is very complex, requiring, within the framework of synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) models, various emission regions for a satisfactory description. Nevertheless the one-zone SSC scenario can successfully describe the segments of the SED where most energy is emitted, with a significant correlation between the electron energy density and the VHE gamma-ray activity, suggesting that most of the variability may be explained by the injection of high-energy electrons. The one-zone SSC scenario used reproduces the behavior seen between the measured X-ray and VHE gamma-ray fluxes, and predicts that the correlation becomes stronger with increasing energy of the X-rays.}, language = {en} } @article{AllenArchambaultArcheretal.2017, author = {Allen, C. and Archambault, S. and Archer, A. and Benbow, W. and Bird, R. and Bourbeau, E. and Brose, Robert and Buchovecky, M. and Buckley, J. H. and Bugaev, V. and Cardenzana, J. V. and Cerruti, M. and Chen, Xuhui and Christiansen, J. L. and Connolly, M. P. and Cui, W. and Daniel, M. K. and Eisch, J. D. and Falcone, Abe and Feng, Q. and Fernandez-Alonso, M. and Finley, J. P. and Fleischhack, H. and Flinders, A. and Fortson, L. and Furniss, A. and Gillanders, G. H. and Griffin, S. and Grube, J. and Huetten, M. and Hakansson, N. and Hanna, D. and Hervet, O. and Holder, J. and Hughes, G. and Humensky, T. B. and Johnson, C. A. and Kaaret, P. and Kar, P. and Kelley-Hoskins, N. and Kertzman, M. and Kieda, D. and Krause, M. and Krennrich, F. and Kumar, S. and Lang, M. J. and Maier, G. and McArthur, S. and McCann, A. and Meagher, K. and Moriarty, P. and Mukherjee, R. and Nguyen, T. and Nieto, D. and Ong, R. A. and Otte, A. N. and Park, N. and Petrashyk, A. and Pichel, A. and Pohl, Martin and Popkow, A. and Pueschel, Elisa and Quinn, J. and Ragan, K. and Reynolds, P. T. and Richards, G. T. and Roache, E. and Rovero, A. C. and Rulten, C. and Sadeh, I. and Santander, Marcos and Sembroski, G. H. and Shahinyan, K. and Telezhinsky, Igor O. and Tucci, J. V. and Tyler, J. and Wakely, S. P. and Weinstein, A. and Wilhelm, Alina and Williams, D. A.}, title = {Very-High-Energy gamma-Ray Observations of the Blazar 1ES 2344+514 with VERITAS}, series = {Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society}, volume = {471}, journal = {Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society}, publisher = {Oxford Univ. Press}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {0035-8711}, doi = {10.1093/mnras/stx1756}, pages = {2117 -- 2123}, year = {2017}, abstract = {We present very-high-energy gamma-ray observations of the BL Lac object 1ES 2344+514 taken by the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System between 2007 and 2015. 1ES 2344+514 is detected with a statistical significance above the background of 20.8 sigma in 47.2 h (livetime) of observations, making this the most comprehensive very-high-energy study of 1ES 2344+514 to date. Using these observations, the temporal properties of 1ES 2344+514 are studied on short and long times-scales. We fit a constant-flux model to nightly and seasonally binned light curves and apply a fractional variability test to determine the stability of the source on different time-scales. We reject the constant-flux model for the 2007-2008 and 2014-2015 nightly binned light curves and for the long-term seasonally binned light curve at the > 3 sigma level. The spectra of the time-averaged emission before and after correction for attenuation by the extragalactic background light are obtained. The observed time-averaged spectrum above 200 GeV is satisfactorily fitted (x(2)/NDF = 7.89/6) by a power-law function with an index Gamma = 2.46 +/- 0.06(stat) +/- 0.20(sys) and extends to at least 8 TeV. The extragalactic-backgroundlight-deabsorbed spectrum is adequately fit (x(2)/NDF = 6.73/6) by a power-law function with an index Gamma = 2.15 +/- 0.06(stat) +/- 0.20(sys) while an F-test indicates that the power law with an exponential cut-off function provides a marginally better fit (x(2)/NDF = 2.56/5) at the 2.1 sigma level. The source location is found to be consistent with the published radio location and its spatial extent is consistent with a point source.}, language = {en} } @article{ArchambaultArcherBenbowetal.2016, author = {Archambault, S. and Archer, A. and Benbow, W. and Bird, R. and Biteau, Jonathan and Buchovecky, M. and Buckley, J. H. and Bugaev, V. and Byrum, K. and Cerruti, M. and Chen, Xuhui and Ciupik, L. and Connolly, M. P. and Cui, W. and Eisch, J. D. and Errando, M. and Falcone, A. and Feng, Q. and Finley, J. P. and Fleischhack, H. and Fortin, P. and Fortson, L. and Furniss, A. and Gillanders, G. H. and Griffin, S. and Grube, J. and Gyuk, G. and Huetten, M. and Hakansson, Nils and Hanna, D. and Holder, J. and Humensky, T. B. and Johnson, C. A. and Kaaret, P. and Kar, P. and Kelley-Hoskins, N. and Kertzman, M. and Kieda, D. and Krause, M. and Krennrich, F. and Kumar, S. and Lang, M. J. and Maier, G. and McArthur, S. and McCann, A. and Meagher, K. and Moriarty, P. and Mukherjee, R. and Nguyen, T. and Nieto, D. and Ong, R. A. and Otte, A. N. and Park, N. and Perkins, J. S. and Pichel, A. and Pohl, Martin and Popkow, A. and Pueschel, Elisa and Quinn, J. and Ragan, K. and Reynolds, P. T. and Richards, G. T. and Roache, E. and Rovero, A. C. and Santander, M. and Sembroski, G. H. and Shahinyan, K. and Smith, A. W. and Staszak, D. and Telezhinsky, Igor O. and Tucci, J. V. and Tyler, J. and Vincent, S. and Wakely, S. P. and Weiner, O. M. and Weinstein, A. and Williams, D. A. and Zitzer, B. and Fumagalli, M. and Prochaska, J. X.}, title = {UPPER LIMITS FROM FIVE YEARS OF BLAZAR OBSERVATIONS WITH THE VERITAS CHERENKOV TELESCOPES}, series = {The astronomical journal}, volume = {151}, journal = {The astronomical journal}, publisher = {IOP Publ. Ltd.}, address = {Bristol}, organization = {VERITAS Collaboration}, issn = {0004-6256}, doi = {10.3847/0004-6256/151/6/142}, pages = {19}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Between the beginning of its full-scale scientific operations in 2007 and 2012, the VERITAS Cherenkov telescope array observed more than 130 blazars; of these, 26 were detected as very-high-energy (VHE; E > 100 GeV) gamma-ray sources. In this work, we present the analysis results of a sample of 114 undetected objects. The observations constitute a total live-time of similar to 570 hr. The sample includes several unidentified Fermi-Large Area Telescope (LAT) sources (located at high Galactic latitude) as well as all the sources from the second Fermi-LAT catalog that are contained within the field of view of the VERITAS observations. We have also performed optical spectroscopy measurements in order to estimate the redshift of some of these blazars that do not have spectroscopic distance estimates. We present new optical spectra from the Kast instrument on the Shane telescope at the Lick observatory for 18 blazars included in this work, which allowed for the successful measurement or constraint on the redshift of four of them. For each of the blazars included in our sample, we provide the flux upper limit in the VERITAS energy band. We also study the properties of the significance distributions and we present the result of a stacked analysis of the data set, which shows a 4s excess.}, language = {en} } @article{AliuArchambaultArcheretal.2016, author = {Aliu, E. and Archambault, S. and Archer, A. and Arlen, T. and Aune, T. and Barnacka, Anna and Behera, B. and Beilicke, M. and Benbow, W. and Berger, K. and Bird, R. and B{\"o}ttcher, Markus and Bouvier, A. and Buchovecky, M. and Buckley, J. H. and Bugaev, V. and Cardenzana, J. V. and Cerruti, M. and Cesarini, A. and Chen, Xuhui and Ciupik, L. and Collins-Hughes, E. and Connolly, M. P. and Cui, W. and Dumm, J. and Eisch, J. D. and Falcone, A. and Federici, Simone and Feng, Q. and Finley, J. P. and Fleischhack, H. and Fortin, P. and Fortson, L. and Furniss, A. and Galante, N. and Gall, D. and Gillanders, G. H. and Griffin, S. and Griffiths, S. T. and Grube, J. and Gyuk, G. and H{\"u}tten, M. and Hakansson, Nils and Holder, J. and Hughes, G. and Humensky, T. B. and Johnson, C. A. and Kaaret, P. and Kar, P. and Kelley-Hoskins, N. and Kertzman, M. and Khassen, Y. and Kieda, D. and Krause, M. and Krawczynski, H. and Krennrich, F. and Lang, M. J. and Madhavan, A. S. and Maier, G. and McArthur, S. and McCann, A. and Meagher, K. and Millis, J. and Moriarty, P. and Mukherjee, R. and Nieto, D. and Ong, R. A. and Orr, M. and Otte, A. N. and Pandel, D. and Park, N. and Pelassa, V. and Perkins, J. S. and Pichel, A. and Pohl, Martin and Popkow, A. and Quinn, J. and Ragan, K. and Reyes, L. C. and Reynolds, P. T. and Roache, E. and Rousselle, J. and Rovero, A. C. and Saxon, D. B. and Sembroski, G. H. and Shahinyan, K. and Sheidaei, F. and Skole, C. and Smith, A. W. and Staszak, D. and Telezhinsky, Igor O. and Theiling, M. and Todd, N. W. and Tucci, J. V. and Tyler, J. and Varlotta, A. and Vassiliev, V. V. and Vincent, S. and Wakely, S. P. and Weiner, O. M. and Weinstein, A. and Welsing, R. and Wilhelm, Alina and Williams, D. A. and Zitzer, B. and Baring, M. G. and Gonzalez, J. Becerra and Cillis, A. N. and Horan, D. and Paneque, D.}, title = {Very high energy outburst of Markarian 501 in May 2009}, series = {Physical chemistry, chemical physics : a journal of European Chemical Societies}, volume = {594}, journal = {Physical chemistry, chemical physics : a journal of European Chemical Societies}, publisher = {EDP Sciences}, address = {Les Ulis}, organization = {Veritas Collaboration}, issn = {1432-0746}, doi = {10.1051/0004-6361/201628744}, pages = {12}, year = {2016}, abstract = {The very high energy (VHE; E > 100 GeV) blazar Markarian 501 was observed between April 17 and May 5 (MJD 54 938-54 956), 2009, as part of an extensive multiwavelength campaign from radio to VHE. Strong VHE yray activity was detected on May 1st with Whipple and VERITAS, when the flux (E > 400 GeV) increased to 10 times the preflare baseline flux (3.9 x 10(-11) ph cm(-2) s(-1)), reaching five times the flux of the Crab Nebula. This coincided with a decrease in the optical polarization and a rotation of the polarization angle by 15. This VHE flare showed a fast flux variation with an increase of a factor similar to 4 in 25 min, and a falling time of similar to 50 min. We present the observations of the quiescent state previous to the flare and of the high state after the flare, focusing on the flux and spectral variability from Whipple, VERITAS, Fermi-LAT, RXTE, and Swift combined with optical and radio data.}, language = {en} } @misc{AcharyaAramoBabicetal.2015, author = {Acharya, B. S. and Aramo, C. and Babic, A. and Barrio, J. A. and Baushev, Anton N. and Tjus, J. Becker and Berge, David and Bohacova, M. and Bonardi, A. and Brown, A. and Bugaev, V. and Bulik, Tomasz and Burton, M. and Busetto, G. and Caraveo, P. A. and Carosi, R. and Carr, John and Chadwick, Paula M. and Chudoba, J. and Conforti, V. and Connaughton, V. and Contreras, J. L. and Cotter, G. and Dazzi, F. and De Franco, A. and de la Calle, I. and Lopez, R. de los Reyes and De Lotto, B. and De Palma, F. and Di Girolamo, T. and Di Giulio, C. and Di Pierro, F. and Dournaux, J. -L. and Dwarkadas, Vikram V. and Ebr, J. and Egberts, Kathrin and Fesquet, M. and Fleischhack, H. and Font, L. and Fontaine, G. and Foerster, A. and F{\"u}ßling, Matthias and Garcia, B. and Lopez, R. Garcia and Garczarczyk, M. and Gargano, F. and Garrido, D. and Gaug, M. and Giglietto, N. and Giordano, F. and Giuliani, A. and Godinovic, N. and Gonzalez, M. M. and Grabarczyk, T. and Hassan, T. and Hoerandel, J. and Hrabovsky, M. and Hrupec, D. and Humensky, T. B. and Huovelin, J. and Jamrozy, M. and Janecek, P. and Kaaret, P. E. and Katz, U. and Kaufmann, S. and Khelifi, B. and Kluzniak, W. and Kocot, J. and Komin, N. and Kubo, H. and Kushida, J. and Lamanna, G. and Lee, W. H. and Lenain, J. -P. and Lohse, T. and Lombardi, S. and Lopez-Coto, R. and Lopez-Oramas, A. and Lucarelli, F. and Maccarone, M. C. and Maier, G. and Majumdar, P. and Malaguti, G. and Mandat, D. and Mazziotta, Mario Nicola and Meagher, K. and Mirabal, N. and Morselli, A. and Moulin, Emmanuel and Niemiec, J. and Nievas, M. and Nishijima, K. and Nosek, D. and Nunio, F. and Ohishi, M. and Ohm, S. and Ong, R. A. and Orito, R. and Otte, N. and Palatka, M. and Pareschi, G. and Pech, M. and Persic, M. and Pohl, Manuela and Prouza, M. and Quirrenbach, A. and Raino, S. and Fernandez, G. Rodriguez and Romano, Patrizia and Rovero, A. C. and Rudak, B. and Schovanek, P. and Shayduk, M. and Siejkowski, H. and Sillanpaa, A. and Stefanik, S. and Stolarczyk, T. and Szanecki, M. and Szepieniec, T. and Tejedor, L. A. and Telezhinsky, Igor O. and Teshima, M. and Tibaldo, L. and Tibolla, O. and Tovmassian, G. and Travnicek, P. and Trzeciak, M. and Vallania, P. and van Eldik, C. and Vercellone, S. and Vigorito, C. and Wagner, S. J. and Wakely, S. P. and Weinstein, A. and Wierzcholska, A. and Wilhelm, Alina and Wojcik, P. and Yoshikoshi, T.}, title = {The Cherenkov Telescope Array potential for the study of young supernova remnants}, series = {Astroparticle physics}, volume = {62}, journal = {Astroparticle physics}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0927-6505}, doi = {10.1016/j.astropartphys.2014.08.005}, pages = {152 -- 164}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Supernova remnants (SNRs) are among the most important targets for gamma-ray observatories. Being prominent non-thermal sources, they are very likely responsible for the acceleration of the bulk of Galactic cosmic rays (CRS). To firmly establish the SNR paradigm for the origin of cosmic rays, it should be confirmed that protons are indeed accelerated in, and released from, SNRs with the appropriate flux and spectrum. This can be done by detailed theoretical models which account for microphysics of acceleration and various radiation processes of hadrons and leptons. The current generation of Cherenkov telescopes has insufficient sensitivity to constrain theoretical models. A new facility, the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA), will have superior capabilities and may finally resolve this long standing issue of high-energy astrophysics. We want to assess the capabilities of CTA to reveal the physics of various types of SNRs in the initial 2000 years of their evolution. During this time, the efficiency to accelerate cosmic rays is highest. We perform time-dependent simulations of the hydrodynamics, the magnetic fields, the cosmic-ray acceleration, and the non-thermal emission for type Ia, Ic and IIP SNRs. We calculate the CTA response to the y-ray emission from these SNRs for various ages and distances, and we perform a realistic analysis of the simulated data. We derive distance limits for the detectability and resolvability of these SNR types at several ages. We test the ability of CTA to reconstruct their morphological and spectral parameters as a function of their distance. Finally, we estimate how well CTA data will constrain the theoretical models. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.}, language = {en} } @article{AleksicAnsoldiAntonellietal.2015, author = {Aleksic, J. and Ansoldi, S. and Antonelli, L. A. and Antoranz, P. and Babic, A. and Bangale, P. and de Almeida, U. Barres and Barrio, J. A. and Gonzalez, J. Becerra and Bednarek, W. and Berger, K. and Bernardini, E. and Bilandli, A. and Bianch, O. and Bock, R. K. and Bonnefoy, S. and Bonnoli, G. and Borracci, F. and Bretz, T. and Carmona, E. and Carosi, A. and Fidalgo, D. Carreto and Colin, P. and Colombo, E. and Contreras, J. L. and Cortina, J. and Covino, S. and Da Vela, P. and Dazzi, F. and De Angelis, A. and De Caneva, G. and De Lotto, B. and Delgado Mendez, C. and Doert, M. and Dominguez, A. and Prester, Dijana Dominis and Dorner, D. and Doro, M. and Einecke, S. and Eisenacher, D. and Elsaesser, D. and Farina, E. and Ferenc, D. and Fonseca, M. V. and Font, L. and Frantzen, K. and Fruck, C. and Garcia Lopez, R. J. and Garczarczyki, M. and Garrido Terrats, D. and Gaug, M. and Giavitto, G. and Godinovic, N. and Gonzalez Munoz, A. and Gozzini, S. R. and Hadamek, A. and Hadasch, D. and Herrero, A. and Hildebrand, D. and Hose, J. and Hrupec, D. and Idec, W. and Kadenius, V. and Kellermann, H. and Knoetig, M. L. and Krause, J. and Kushida, J. and La Barbera, A. and Lelas, D. and Lewandowska, N. and Lindfors, E. and Longo, F. and Lombardi, S. and Lopez, M. and Lopez-Coto, R. and Lopez-Oramas, A. and Lorenz, E. and Lozano, I. and Makariev, M. and Mallot, K. and Maneva, G. and Mankuzhiyil, N. and Mannheim, K. and Maraschi, L. and Marcote, B. and Mariotti, M. and Martinez, M. and Mazin, D. and Menzel, U. and Meucci, M. and Miranda, J. M. and Mirzoyan, R. and Moralejo, A. and Munar-Adrover, P. and Nakajima, D. and Niedzwiecki, A. and Nilsson, K. and Nowak, N. and Orito, R. and Overkemping, A. and Paiano, S. and Palatiello, M. and Paneque, D. and Paoletti, R. and Paredes, J. M. and Paredes-Fortuny, X. and Partini, S. and Persic, M. and Prada, F. and Moroni, P. G. Prada and Prandini, E. and Preziuso, S. and Puljak, I. and Reinthal, R. and Rhode, W. and Ribo, M. and Rico, J. and Garcia, J. Rodriguez and Ruegamer, S. and Saggion, A. and Saito, K. and Salvati, M. and Satalecka, K. and Scalzotto, V. and Scapin, V. and Schuliz, C. and Schweizer, T. and Shore, S. N. and Sillanpaa, A. and Sitarek, J. and Snidaric, I. and Sobczynska, D. and Spanier, F. and Stamatescu, V. and Stamerra, A. and Steinbring, T. and Storz, J. and Sun, S. and Suric, T. and Takalo, L. and Tavecchio, F. and Temnikov, P. and Terzic, T. and Tescaro, D. and Teshima, M. and Thaele, J. and Tibolla, O. and Torres, D. F. and Toyama, T. and Treves, A. and Uellenbeck, M. and Vogler, P. and Wagner, R. M. and Zandanel, F. and Zanin, R. and Archambault, S. and Behera, B. and Beilicke, M. and Benbow, W. and Bird, R. and Buckley, J. H. and Bugaev, V. and Cerruti, M. and Chen, X. and Ciupik, L. and Collins-Hughes, E. and Cui, W. and Dumm, J. and Eisch, J. D. and Falcone, A. and Federici, S. and Feng, Q. and Finley, J. P. and Fleischhack, H. and Fortin, P. and Fortson, L. and Furniss, A. and Griffin, S. and Griffiths, S. T. and Grube, J. and Gyuk, G. and Hanna, D. and Holder, J. and Hughes, G. and Humensky, T. B. and Johnson, C. A. and Kaaret, P. and Kertzman, M. and Khassen, Y. and Kieda, D. and Krawczynski, H. and Krennrich, F. and Kumar, S. and Lang, M. J. and Maier, G. and McArthur, S. and Meagher, K. and Moriarty, P. and Mukherjee, R. and Ong, R. A. and Otte, A. N. and Park, N. and Pichel, A. and Pohl, M. and Popkow, A. and Prokoph, H. and Quinn, M. J. and Ragan, K. and Rajotte, J. and Reynolds, P. T. and Richards, G. T. and Roache, E. and Rovero, A. C. and Sembroski, G. H. and Shahinyan, K. and Staszak, D. and Telezhinsky, Igor O. and Theiling, M. and Tucci, J. V. and Tyler, J. and Varlotta, A. and Wakely, S. P. and Weekes, T. C. and Weinstein, A. and Welsing, R. and Wilhelm, Alina and Williams, D. A. and Zitzer, B. and Villata, M. and Raiteri, C. and Aller, H. D. and Aller, M. F. and Chen, W. P. and Jordan, B. and Koptelova, E. and Kurtanidze, O. M. and Lahteenmaki, A. and McBreen, B. and Larionov, V. M. and Lin, C. S. and Nikolashvili, M. G. and Angelakis, E. and Capalbi, M. and Carraminana, A. and Carrasco, L. and Cassaro, P. and Cesarini, A. and Fuhrmann, L. and Giroletti, M. and Hovatta, T. and Krichbaum, T. P. and Krimm, H. A. and Max-Moerbeck, W. and Moody, J. W. and Maccaferri, G. and Mori, Y. and Nestoras, I. and Orlati, A. and Pace, C. and Pearson, R. and Perri, M. and Readhead, A. C. S. and Richards, J. L. and Sadun, A. C. and Sakamoto, T. and Tammi, J. and Tornikoski, M. and Yatsu, Y. and Zook, A.}, title = {The 2009 multiwavelength campaign on Mrk 421: Variability and correlation studies}, series = {Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal}, volume = {576}, journal = {Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal}, publisher = {EDP Sciences}, address = {Les Ulis}, organization = {MAGIC Collaboration, VERITAS Collaboration, MAGIC Collaboration}, issn = {0004-6361}, doi = {10.1051/0004-6361/201424216}, pages = {18}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Aims. We perform an extensive characterization of the broadband emission of Mrk 421, as well as its temporal evolution, during the non-flaring (low) state. The high brightness and nearby location (z = 0.031) of Mrk 421 make it an excellent laboratory to study blazar emission. The goal is to learn about the physical processes responsible for the typical emission of Mrk 421, which might also be extended to other blazars that are located farther away and hence are more difficult to study. Methods. We performed a 4.5-month multi-instrument campaign on Mrk 421 between January 2009 and June 2009, which included VLBA, F-GAMMA, GASP-WEBT, Swift, RXTE, Fermi-LAT, MAGIC, and Whipple, among other instruments and collaborations. This extensive radio to very-high-energy (VHE; E > 100 GeV) gamma-ray dataset provides excellent temporal and energy coverage, which allows detailed studies of the evolution of the broadband spectral energy distribution. Results. Mrk421 was found in its typical (non-flaring) activity state, with a VHE flux of about half that of the Crab Nebula, yet the light curves show significant variability at all wavelengths, the highest variability being in the X-rays. We determined the power spectral densities (PSD) at most wavelengths and found that all PSDs can be described by power-laws without a break, and with indices consistent with pink/red-noise behavior. We observed a harder-when-brighter behavior in the X-ray spectra and measured a positive correlation between VHE and X-ray fluxes with zero time lag. Such characteristics have been reported many times during flaring activity, but here they are reported for the first time in the non-flaring state. We also observed an overall anti-correlation between optical /UV and X-rays extending over the duration of the campaign. Conclusions. The harder-when-brighter behavior in the X-ray spectra and the measured positive X-ray/VHE correlation during the 2009 multiwavelength campaign suggests that the physical processes dominating the emission during non-flaring states have similarities with those occurring during flaring activity. In particular, this observation supports leptonic scenarios as being responsible for the emission of Mrk 421 during non-flaring activity. Such a temporally extended X-ray /VHE correlation is not driven by any single flaring event, and hence is difficult to explain within the standard hadronic scenarios. The highest variability is observed in the X-ray band, which, within the one-zone synchrotron self-Compton scenario, indicates that the electron energy distribution is most variable at the highest energies.}, language = {en} } @article{AleksicAnsoldiAntonellietal.2015, author = {Aleksic, J. and Ansoldi, S. and Antonelli, L. A. and Antoranz, P. and Babic, A. and Bangale, P. and de Almeida, U. Barres and Barrio, J. A. and Gonzalez, J. Becerra and Bednarek, W. and Bernardini, E. and Biasuzzi, B. and Biland, A. and Blanch Bigas, O. and Boller, A. and Bonnefoy, S. and Bonnoli, G. and Borracci, F. and Bretz, T. and Carmona, E. and Carosi, A. and Colin, P. and Colombo, E. and Contreras, J. L. and Cortina, J. and Covino, S. and Da Vela, P. and Dazzi, F. and De Angelis, A. and De Caneva, G. and De Lotto, B. and Wilhelmi, E. de Ona and Mendez, C. Delgado and Prester, Dijana Dominis and Dorner, D. and Doro, M. and Einecke, S. and Eisenacher, D. and Elsaesser, D. and Fonseca, M. V. and Font, L. and Frantzen, K. and Fruck, C. and Galindo, D. and Lopez, R. J. Garcia and Garczarczyk, M. and Terrats, D. Garrido and Gaug, M. and Godinovic, N. and Munoz, A. Gonzalez and Gozzini, S. R. and Hadasch, D. and Hanabata, Y. and Hayashida, M. and Herrera, J. and Hildebrand, D. and Hose, J. and Hrupec, D. and Hughes, G. and Idec, W. and Kadenius, V. and Kellermann, H. and Knoetig, M. L. and Kodani, K. and Konno, Y. and Krause, J. and Kubo, H. and Kushida, J. and La Barbera, A. and Lelas, D. and Lewandowska, N. and Lindfors, E. and Lombardi, S. and Lopez, M. and Lopez-Coto, R. and Lopez-Oramas, A. and Lorenz, E. and Lozano, I. and Makariev, M. and Mallot, K. and Maneva, G. and Mankuzhiyil, N. and Mannheim, K. and Maraschi, L. and Marcote, B. and Mariotti, M. and Martinez, M. and Mazin, D. and Menzel, U. and Miranda, J. M. and Mirzoyan, R. and Moralejo, A. and Munar-Adrover, P. and Nakajima, D. and Niedzwiecki, A. and Nilsson, K. and Nishijima, K. and Noda, K. and Orito, R. and Overkemping, A. and Paiano, S. and Palatiello, M. and Paneque, D. and Paoletti, R. and Paredes, J. M. and Paredes-Fortuny, X. and Persic, M. and Moroni, P. G. Prada and Prandini, E. and Puljak, I. and Reinthal, R. and Rhode, W. and Ribo, M. and Rico, J. and Garcia, J. Rodriguez and Rugamer, S. and Saito, T. and Saito, K. and Satalecka, K. and Scalzotto, V. and Scapin, V. and Schultz, C. and Schweizer, T. and Sun, S. and Shore, S. N. and Sillanpaa, A. and Sitarek, J. and Snidaric, I. and Sobczynska, D. and Spanier, F. and Stamatescu, V. and Stamerra, A. and Steinbring, T. and Steinke, B. and Storz, J. and Strzys, M. and Takalo, L. and Takami, H. and Tavecchio, F. and Temnikov, P. and Terzic, T. and Tescaro, D. and Teshima, M. and Thaele, J. and Tibolla, O. and Torres, D. F. and Toyama, T. and Treves, A. and Uellenbeck, M. and Vogler, P. and Zanin, R. and Archambault, S. and Archer, A. and Beilicke, M. and Benbow, W. and Berger, K. and Bird, R. and Biteau, Jonathan and Buckley, J. H. and Bugaev, V. and Cerruti, M. and Chen, Xiaoming and Ciupik, L. and Collins-Hughes, E. and Cui, W. and Eisch, J. D. and Falcone, A. and Feng, Q. and Finley, J. P. and Fortin, P. and Fortson, L. and Furniss, A. and Galante, N. and Gillanders, G. 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C. and McBreen, B. and Moody, J. W. and Morozova, D. A. and Marscher, A. P. and Max-Moerbeck, W. and Nikolashvili, M. G. and Perri, M. and Readhead, A. C. S. and Richards, J. L. and Ros, J. A. and Sadun, A. C. and Sakamoto, T. and Sigua, L. A. and Smith, P. S. and Tornikoski, M. and Troitsky, I. S. and Wehrle, A. E. and Jordan, B.}, title = {Unprecedented study of the broadband emission of Mrk 421 during flaring activity in March 2010}, series = {Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal}, volume = {578}, journal = {Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal}, publisher = {EDP Sciences}, address = {Les Ulis}, organization = {MAGIC Collaboration, VERITAS Collaboration}, issn = {0004-6361}, doi = {10.1051/0004-6361/201424811}, pages = {26}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Context. Because of its proximity, Mrk 421 is one of the best sources on which to study the nature of BL Lac objects. Its proximity allows us to characterize its broadband spectral energy distribution (SED). Aims. The goal is to better understand the mechanisms responsible for the broadband emission and the temporal evolution of Mrk 421. These mechanisms may also apply to more distant blazars that cannot be studied with the same level of detail. Methods. A flare occurring in March 2010 was observed for 13 consecutive days (from MJD 55 265 to MJD 55 277) with unprecedented wavelength coverage from radio to very high energy (VHE; E > 100 GeV) gamma-rays with MAGIC, VERITAS, Whipple, Fermi-LAT, MAXI, RXTE, Swift, GASP-WEBT, and several optical and radio telescopes. We modeled the day-scale SEDs with one-zone and two-zone synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) models, investigated the physical parameters, and evaluated whether the observed broadband SED variability can be associated with variations in the relativistic particle population. Results. The activity of Mrk 421 initially was high and then slowly decreased during the 13-day period. The flux variability was remarkable at the X-ray and VHE bands, but it was minor or not significant at the other bands. The variability in optical polarization was also minor. These observations revealed an almost linear correlation between the X-ray flux at the 2-10 keV band and the VHE gamma-ray flux above 200 GeV, consistent with the gamma-rays being produced by inverse-Compton scattering in the Klein-Nishina regime in the framework of SSC models. The one-zone SSC model can describe the SED of each day for the 13 consecutive days reasonably well, which once more shows the success of this standard theoretical scenario to describe the SEDs of VHE BL Lacs such as Mrk 421. This flaring activity is also very well described by a two-zone SSC model, where one zone is responsible for the quiescent emission, while the other smaller zone, which is spatially separated from the first, contributes to the daily variable emission occurring at X-rays and VHE gamma-rays. The second blob is assumed to have a smaller volume and a narrow electron energy distribution with 3 x 10(4) < gamma < 6 x 10(5), where. is the Lorentz factor of the electrons. Such a two-zone scenario would naturally lead to the correlated variability at the X-ray and VHE bands without variability at the optical/UV band, as well as to shorter timescales for the variability at the X-ray and VHE bands with respect to the variability at the other bands. Conclusions. Both the one-zone and the two-zone SSC models can describe the daily SEDs via the variation of only four or five model parameters, under the hypothesis that the variability is associated mostly with the underlying particle population. This shows that the particle acceleration and cooling mechanism that produces the radiating particles might be the main mechanism responsible for the broadband SED variations during the flaring episodes in blazars. The two-zone SSC model provides a better agreement with the observed SED at the narrow peaks of the low-and high-energy bumps during the highest activity, although the reported one-zone SSC model could be further improved by varying the parameters related to the emitting region itself (delta, B and R), in addition to the parameters related to the particle population.}, language = {en} }