@article{AbeysekaraBenbowBirdetal.2018, author = {Abeysekara, A. U. and Benbow, Wystan and Bird, Ralph and Brill, A. and Brose, Robert and Buckley, J. H. and Chromey, A. J. and Daniel, M. K. and Falcone, A. and Finley, J. P. and Fortson, L. and Furniss, Amy and Gent, A. and Gillanders, Gerald H. and Hanna, David and Hassan, T. and Hervet, O. and Holder, J. and Hughes, G. and Humensky, T. B. and Kaaret, Philip and Kar, P. and Kertzman, M. and Kieda, David and Krause, Maria and Krennrich, F. and Kumar, S. and Lang, M. J. and Lin, T. T. Y. and Maier, Gernot and Moriarty, P. and Mukherjee, Reshmi and Ong, R. A. and Otte, Adam Nepomuk and Park, Nahee and Petrashyk, A. and Pohl, Martin and Pueschel, Elisa and Quinn, J. and Ragan, K. and Richards, Gregory T. and Roache, E. and Sadeh, I. and Santander, Marcos and Schlenstedt, S. and Sembroski, G. H. and Sushch, Iurii and Tyler, J. and Vassiliev, V. V. and Wakely, S. P. and Weinstein, A. and Wells, R. M. and Wilcox, P. and Wilhelm, Alina and Williams, David A. and Williamson, T. J. and Zitzer, B. and Acciari, V. A. and Ansoldi, S. and Antonelli, L. A. and Engels, A. Arbet and Baack, D. and Babic, A. and Banerjee, B. and de Almeida, U. Barres and Barrio, J. A. and Becerra Gonzalez, Josefa and Bednarek, Wlodek and Bernardini, Elisa and Berti, A. and Besenrieder, J. and Bhattacharyya, W. and Bigongiari, C. and Biland, A. and Blanch, O. and Bonnoli, G. and Busetto, G. and Carosi, R. and Ceribella, G. and Cikota, S. and Colak, S. M. 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 Delfino, M. and Delgado, J. and Di Pierro, F. and Do Souto Espinera, E. and Dominguez, A. and Prester, D. Dominis and Dorner, D. and Doro, M. and Einecke, S. and Elsaesser, D. and Ramazani, V. Fallah and Fattorini, A. and Fernandez-Barral, A. and Ferrara, G. and Fidalgo, D. and Foffano, L. and Fonseca, M. V. and Font, L. and Fruck, C. and Galindo, D. and Gallozzi, S. and Lopez, R. J. Garcia and Garczarczyk, M. and Gasparyan, S. and Gaug, Markus and Giammaria, P. and Godinovic, N. and Guberman, D. and Hadasch, D. and Hahn, A. and Herrera, J. and Hoang, J. and Hrupec, D. and Inoue, S. and Ishio, K. and Iwamura, Y. and Kubo, H. and Kushida, J. and Kuvezdic, D. and Lamastra, A. and Lelas, D. and Leone, Francesco and Lindfors, E. and Lombardi, S. and Longo, Francesco and Lopez, M. and Lopez-Oramas, A. and Machado de Oliveira Fraga, B. and Maggio, C. and Majumdar, P. and Makariev, M. and Mallamaci, M. and Maneva, G. and Manganaro, M. and Mannheim, K. and Maraschi, L. and Mariotti, M. and Martinez, M. and Masuda, S. and Mazin, D. and Minev, M. and Miranda, J. M. and Mirzoyan, R. and Molina, E. and Moralejo, A. and Moreno, V. and Moretti, E. and Munar-Adrover, Pere and Neustroev, V. and Niedzwiecki, Andrzej and Rosillo, Mireia Nievas and Nigro, C. and Nilsson, Kari and Ninci, D. and Nishijima, K. and Noda, K. and Nogues, L. and Noethe, M. and Paiano, Simona and Palacio, J. and Paneque, D. and Paoletti, R. and Paredes, J. M. and Pedaletti, G. and Penil, P. and Peresano, M. and Persic, M. and Moroni, P. G. Prada and Prandini, E. and Puljak, I. and Garcia, J. R. and Rhode, W. and Ribo, Marc and Rico, J. and Righi, C. and Rugliancich, A. and Saha, Lab and Sahakyan, Narek and Saito, T. and Satalecka, K. and Schweizer, T. and Sitarek, J. and Snidaric, I. and Sobczynska, D. and Somero, A. and Stamerra, A. and Strzys, M. and Suric, T. and Tavecchio, Fabrizio and Temnikov, P. and Terzic, T. and Teshima, M. and Torres-Alba, N. and Tsujimoto, S. and van Scherpenberg, J. and Vanzo, G. and Vazquez Acosta, M. and Vovk, I. and Will, M. and Zaric, D.}, title = {Periastron Observations of TeV Gamma-Ray Emission from a Binary System with a 50-year Period}, series = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics ; Part 2, Letters}, volume = {867}, journal = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics ; Part 2, Letters}, number = {1}, publisher = {IOP Publ. Ltd.}, address = {Bristol}, organization = {VERITAS Collaboration MAGIC Collaboration}, issn = {2041-8205}, doi = {10.3847/2041-8213/aae70e}, pages = {8}, year = {2018}, abstract = {We report on observations of the pulsar/Be star binary system PSR J2032+4127/MT91 213 in the energy range between 100 GeV and 20 TeV with the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array and Major Atmospheric Gamma Imaging Cherenkov telescope arrays. The binary orbit has a period of approximately 50 years, with the most recent periastron occurring on 2017 November 13. Our observations span from 18 months prior to periastron to one month after. A new point-like gamma-ray source is detected, coincident with the location of PSR J2032+4127/MT91 213. The gamma-ray light curve and spectrum are well characterized over the periastron passage. The flux is variable over at least an order of magnitude, peaking at periastron, thus providing a firm association of the TeV source with the pulsar/Be star system. Observations prior to periastron show a cutoff in the spectrum at an energy around 0.5 TeV. This result adds a new member to the small population of known TeV binaries, and it identifies only the second source of this class in which the nature and properties of the compact object are firmly established. We compare the gamma-ray results with the light curve measured with the X-ray Telescope on board the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory and with the predictions of recent theoretical models of the system. We conclude that significant revision of the models is required to explain the details of the emission that we have observed, and we discuss the relationship between the binary system and the overlapping steady extended source, TeV J2032+4130.}, language = {en} } @article{AbeysekaraArcherBenbowetal.2018, author = {Abeysekara, A. U. and Archer, A. and Benbow, Wystan and Bird, Ralph and Brill, A. and Brose, Robert and Buckley, J. H. and Christiansen, Jessie L. and Chromey, A. J. and Daniel, M. K. and Falcone, A. and Feng, Qi and Finley, John P. and Fortson, L. and Furniss, Amy and Gillanders, Gerard H. and Gueta, O. and Hanna, David and Hervet, O. and Holder, J. and Hughes, G. and Humensky, T. B. and Johnson, Caitlin A. and Kaaret, Philip and Kar, P. and Kelley-Hoskins, N. and Kertzman, M. and Kieda, David and Krause, Maria and Krennrich, F. and Lang, M. J. and Moriarty, P. and Mukherjee, Reshmi and Ong, R. A. and Otte, A. N. and Park, N. and Petrashyk, A. and Pohl, Martin and Pueschel, Elisa and Quinn, J. and Ragan, K. and Reynolds, P. T. and Richards, Gregory T. and Roache, E. and Rulten, C. and Sadeh, I. and Santander, Marcos and Scott, S. S. and Sembroski, G. H. and Shahinyan, Karlen and Tyler, J. and Wakely, S. P. and Weinstein, A. and Wells, R. M. and Wilcox, P. and Wilhelm, Alina and Williams, D. A. and Williamson, T. J. and Zitzer, B. and Kaur, A.}, title = {VERITAS Observations of the BL Lac Object TXS 0506+056}, series = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics ; Part 2, Letters}, volume = {861}, journal = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics ; Part 2, Letters}, number = {2}, publisher = {IOP Publ. Ltd.}, address = {Bristol}, organization = {VERITAS Collaboration}, issn = {2041-8205}, doi = {10.3847/2041-8213/aad053}, pages = {6}, year = {2018}, abstract = {On 2017 September 22, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory reported the detection of the high-energy neutrino event IC 170922A, of potential astrophysical origin. It was soon determined that the neutrino direction was consistent with the location of the gamma-ray blazar TXS 0506+056. (3FGL J0509.4+ 0541), which was in an elevated gamma-ray emission state as measured by the Fermi satellite. Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) observations of the neutrino/blazar region started on 2017 September 23 in response to the neutrino alert and continued through 2018 February 6. While no significant very-high-energy (VHE; E > 100 GeV) emission was observed from the blazar by VERITAS in the two-week period immediately following the IceCube alert, TXS 0506+ 056 was detected by VERITAS with a significance of 5.8 standard deviations (sigma) in the full 35 hr data set. The average photon flux of the source during this period was (8.9 +/- 1.6). x. 10(-12) cm(-2) s(-1), or 1.6\% of the Crab Nebula flux, above an energy threshold of 110 GeV, with a soft spectral index of 4.8. +/-. 1.3.}, 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{BenbowBirdBrilletal.2019, author = {Benbow, W. and Bird, R. and Brill, A. and Brose, Robert and Chromey, A. J. and Daniel, M. K. and Feng, Q. and Finley, J. P. and Fortson, L. and Furniss, A. and Gillanders, G. H. and Giuri, C. and Gueta, O. and Hanna, D. and Halpern, J. P. and Hassan, Tarek and Holder, J. and Hughes, G. and Humensky, T. B. and Joyce, Amy M. and Kaaret, P. and Kar, P. and Kelley-Hoskins, N. and Kertzman, M. and Kieda, D. and Krause, M. and Lang, M. J. and Lin, T. T. Y. and Maier, Gernot and Matthews, N. and Moriarty, P. and Mukherjee, R. and Nieto, D. and Nievas-Rosillos, M. and Ong, R. A. and Park, N. and Petrashyk, A. and Pohl, Martin and Pueschel, Elisa and Quinn, John and Ragan, K. and Reynolds, P. T. and Richards, G. T. and Roache, E. and Rulten, C. and Sadeh, Iftach and Santander, M. and Sembroski, G. H. and Shahinyan, K. and Sushch, Iurii and Wakely, S. P. and Wells, R. M. and Wilcox, P. and Wilhelm, Alina and Williams, David A. and Williamson, T. J.}, title = {Direct measurement of stellar angular diameters by the VERITAS Cherenkov telescopes}, series = {Nature astronomy}, volume = {3}, journal = {Nature astronomy}, number = {6}, publisher = {Nature Publ. Group}, address = {London}, issn = {2397-3366}, doi = {10.1038/s41550-019-0741-z}, pages = {511 -- 516}, year = {2019}, abstract = {The angular size of a star is a critical factor in determining its basic properties1. Direct measurement of stellar angular diameters is difficult: at interstellar distances stars are generally too small to resolve by any individual imaging telescope. This fundamental limitation can be overcome by studying the diffraction pattern in the shadow cast when an asteroid occults a star2, but only when the photometric uncertainty is smaller than the noise added by atmospheric scintillation3. Atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes used for particle astrophysics observations have not generally been exploited for optical astronomy due to the modest optical quality of the mirror surface. However, their large mirror area makes them well suited for such high-time-resolution precision photometry measurements4. Here we report two occultations of stars observed by the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS)5 Cherenkov telescopes with millisecond sampling, from which we are able to provide a direct measurement of the occulted stars' angular diameter at the ≤0.1 mas scale. This is a resolution never achieved before with optical measurements and represents an order of magnitude improvement over the equivalent lunar occultation method6. We compare the resulting stellar radius with empirically derived estimates from temperature and brightness measurements, confirming the latter can be biased for stars with ambiguous stellar classifications.}, language = {en} }