@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{ArchambaultArcherBenbowetal.2017, author = {Archambault, S. and Archer, A. and Benbow, Wystan and Bird, Ralph and Bourbeau, E. and Buchovecky, M. and Buckley, J. H. and Bugaev, V. and Cerruti, M. and Connolly, M. P. and Cui, W. and Dwarkadas, Vikram V. and Errando, M. and Falcone, A. and Feng, Q. and Finley, J. P. and Fleischhack, H. and Fortson, L. and Furniss, A. and Griffin, S. and Huetten, M. and Hanna, D. and Holder, J. and Johnson, C. A. and Kaaret, P. and Kar, P. and Kelley-Hoskins, N. and Kertzman, M. and Kieda, D. and Krause, M. and Kumar, S. and Lang, M. J. and Maier, G. and McArthur, S. and McCann, A. and Moriarty, P. and Mukherjee, R. and Nieto, D. and Ong, R. A. and Otte, A. N. and Park, Nahee 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 Sadeh, I. and Santander, M. and Sembroski, G. H. and Shahinyan, K. and Slane, P. and Staszak, D. and Telezhinsky, Igor O. and Trepanier, S. 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 = {Gamma-ray Observations of Tycho's Supernova Remnant with VERITAS and Fermi}, series = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics}, volume = {836}, journal = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics}, number = {1}, publisher = {IOP Publ. Ltd.}, address = {Bristol}, issn = {0004-637X}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/836/1/23}, pages = {8}, year = {2017}, language = {en} } @article{AbeysekaraArchambaultArcheretal.2017, author = {Abeysekara, A. U. and Archambault, S. and Archer, A. and Benbow, Wystan and Bird, Ralph and Buchovecky, M. and Buckley, J. H. and Bugaev, V. and Byrum, K. and Cerruti, M. and Chen, X. and Ciupik, L. and Cui, W. and Dickinson, H. J. and Eisch, J. D. and Errando, M. and Falcone, A. and Feng, Q. and Finley, J. P. and Fleischhack, H. and Fortson, L. and Furniss, A. and Gillanders, G. H. and Griffin, S. and Grube, J. and Hutten, M. and Hakansson, N. and Hanna, D. and Holder, J. and Humensky, T. B. and Johnson, C. A. and Kaaret, P. and Kar, P. 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 Pelassa, V. 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 Rulten, C. and Santander, M. and Sembroski, G. H. and Shahinyan, K. and Staszak, D. and Telezhinsky, Igor O. and Tucci, J. V. and Tyler, J. and Wakely, S. P. and Weiner, O. M. and Weinstein, A. and Wilhelm, Alina and Williams, D. A. and Fegan, S. and Giebels, B. and Horan, D. and Berdyugin, A. and Kuan, J. and Lindfors, E. and Nilsson, K. and Oksanen, A. and Prokoph, H. and Reinthal, R. and Takalo, L. and Zefi, F.}, title = {A Luminous and Isolated Gamma-Ray Flare from the Blazar B2 1215+30}, series = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics}, volume = {836}, journal = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics}, number = {2}, publisher = {IOP Publ. Ltd.}, address = {Bristol}, organization = {VERITAS Collaboration;Fermi-LAT Collaboration}, issn = {0004-637X}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/836/2/205}, pages = {6}, year = {2017}, abstract = {B2 1215+30 is a BL-Lac-type blazar that was first detected at TeV energies by the MAGIC atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes and subsequently confirmed by the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) observatory with data collected between 2009 and 2012. In 2014 February 08, VERITAS detected a large-amplitude flare from B2. 1215+30 during routine monitoring observations of the blazar 1ES. 1218+304, located in the same field of view. The TeV flux reached 2.4 times the Crab Nebula flux with a variability timescale of <3.6 hr. Multiwavelength observations with Fermi-LAT, Swift, and the Tuorla Observatory revealed a correlated high GeV flux state and no significant optical counterpart to the flare, with a spectral energy distribution where the gamma-ray luminosity exceeds the synchrotron luminosity. When interpreted in the framework of a onezone leptonic model, the observed emission implies a high degree of beaming, with Doppler factor delta > 10, and an electron population with spectral index p < 2.3.}, language = {en} } @article{ArchambaultArcherBenbowetal.2017, author = {Archambault, S. and Archer, A. and Benbow, W. and Bird, R. and Bourbeau, E. and Brantseg, T. and Buchovecky, M. and Buckley, J. H. and Bugaev, V. and Byrum, K. and Cerruti, M. and Christiansen, J. L. and Connolly, M. P. and Cui, W. and Daniel, M. K. and Feng, Q. and Finley, J. P. and Fleischhack, H. and Fortson, L. and Furniss, A. and Geringer-Sameth, A. and Griffin, S. and Grube, J. and H{\"u}tten, M. and Hakansson, N. and Hanna, D. and Hervet, O. and Holder, J. and Hughes, G. and Hummensky, B. and Johnson, C. A. and Kaaret, P. and Kar, P. and Kelley-Hoskins, N. and Kertzman, M. and Kieda, D. and Koushiappas, S. and Krause, M. and Krennrich, F. and Lang, M. J. and Lin, T. T. Y. and McArthur, S. and Moriarty, P. and Mukherjee, R. and Nieto, D. and Ong, R. A. and Otte, A. N. and Park, 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 Rulten, C. and Sadeh, I. and Santander, M. and Sembroski, G. H. and Shahinyan, K. and Smith, A. W. and Staszak, D. and Telezhinsky, Igor O. and Trepanier, S. and Tucci, J. V. and Tyler, J. and Wakely, S. P. and Weinstein, A. and Wilcox, P. and Williams, D. A. and Zitzer, B.}, title = {Dark matter constraints from a joint analysis of dwarf Spheroidal galaxy observations with VERITAS}, series = {Physical review : D, Particles, fields, gravitation, and cosmology}, volume = {95}, journal = {Physical review : D, Particles, fields, gravitation, and cosmology}, number = {8}, publisher = {American Physical Society}, address = {College Park}, organization = {VERITAS Collaboration}, issn = {2470-0010}, doi = {10.1103/PhysRevD.95.082001}, pages = {14}, year = {2017}, abstract = {We present constraints on the annihilation cross section of weakly interacting massive particles dark matter based on the joint statistical analysis of four dwarf galaxies with VERITAS. These results are derived from an optimized photon weighting statistical technique that improves on standard imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope (IACT) analyses by utilizing the spectral and spatial properties of individual photon events. We report on the results of similar to 230 hours of observations of five dwarf galaxies and the joint statistical analysis of four of the dwarf galaxies. We find no evidence of gamma-ray emission from any individual dwarf nor in the joint analysis. The derived upper limit on the dark matter annihilation cross section from the joint analysis is 1.35 x 10(-23) cm(3) s(-1) at 1 TeV for the bottom quark (b (b) over bar) final state, 2.85 x 10(-24) cm(3) s(-1) at 1 TeV for the tau lepton (tau+tau(-)) final state and 1.32 x 10-25 cm(3) s(-1) at 1 TeV for the gauge boson (gamma gamma) final state.}, language = {en} } @article{ArchambaultArcherBenbowetal.2017, author = {Archambault, S. and Archer, A. and Benbow, W. and Bird, Ralph and Bourbeau, E. and Bouvier, A. and Buchovecky, M. and Bugaev, V. and Cardenzana, J. V. and Cerruti, M. and Ciupik, L. and Connolly, M. P. and Cui, W. and Daniel, M. K. and Errando, M. and Falcone, A. and Feng, Q. and Finley, J. P. and Fleischhack, H. and Fortson, L. and Furniss, A. and Gillanders, G. H. and Griffin, S. and Hanna, D. and Hervet, O. and Holder, J. and Hughes, G. and Humensky, T. B. and Hutten, M. and Johnson, C. A. and Kaaret, P. and Kar, P. and Kertzman, M. and Kieda, D. and Krause, M. and Lang, M. J. and Lin, T. T. Y. and Maier, G. and McArthur, S. and Moriarty, P. and Mukherjee, R. and Nieto, D. and Ong, R. A. and Otte, A. N. and Park, N. 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 Rulten, C. and Sadeh, I. and Sembroski, G. H. and Shahinyan, K. and Staszak, D. and Telezhinsky, Igor O. and Trepanier, S. and Wakely, S. P. and Weinstein, A. and Wilcox, P. and Williams, D. A. and Zitzer, B.}, title = {Gamma-ray observations under bright moonlight with VERITAS}, series = {Astroparticle physics}, volume = {91}, journal = {Astroparticle physics}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0927-6505}, doi = {10.1016/j.astropartphys.2017.03.001}, pages = {34 -- 43}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs) are equipped with sensitive photomultiplier tube (PMT) cameras. Exposure to high levels of background illumination degrades the efficiency of and potentially destroys these photo-detectors over time, so IACTs cannot be operated in the same configuration in the presence of bright moonlight as under dark skies. Since September 2012, observations have been carried out with the VERITAS IACTs under bright moonlight (defined as about three times the night-sky-background (NSB) of a dark extragalactic field, typically occurring when Moon illumination > 35\%) in two observing modes, firstly by reducing the voltage applied to the PMTs and, secondly, with the addition of ultra-violet (UV) bandpass filters to the cameras. This has allowed observations at up to about 30 times previous NSB levels (around 80\% Moon illumination), resulting in 30\% more observing time between the two modes over the course of a year. These additional observations have already allowed for the detection of a flare from the 1ES 1727 + 502 and for an observing program targeting a measurement of the cosmic-ray positron fraction. We provide details of these new observing modes and their performance relative to the standard VERITAS observations. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.}, 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.2018, author = {Abeysekara, A. U. and Archer, A. and Benbow, Wystan and Bird, Ralph and Brose, Robert and Buchovecky, M. and Bugaev, V. and Connolly, M. P. and Cui, Wei and Errando, Manel and Falcone, A. and Feng, Qi and Finley, John P. and Flinders, A. and Fortson, L. and Furniss, Amy and Gillanders, Gerard H. and Huetten, M. 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 Lin, T. T. Y. and Maier, Gernot and McArthur, S. and Moriarty, P. and Mukherjee, Reshmi and Ong, R. A. and Park, N. and Perkins, Jeremy S. and Petrashyk, A. and Pohl, Martin and Popkow, Alexis 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, M. and Sembroski, G. H. and Shahinyan, Karlen and Tyler, J. and Wakely, S. P. and Weiner, O. M. and Weinstein, A. and Wells, R. M. and Wilcox, P. and Wilhelm, Alina and Williams, David A. and Zitzer, B. and Vurm, Indrek and Beloborodov, Andrei}, title = {A Strong Limit on the Very-high-energy Emission from GRB 150323A}, series = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics}, volume = {857}, journal = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics}, number = {1}, publisher = {IOP Publ. Ltd.}, address = {Bristol}, organization = {VERITAS Collaboration}, issn = {0004-637X}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/aab371}, pages = {6}, year = {2018}, abstract = {On 2015 March 23, the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) responded to a Swift-Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) detection of a gamma-ray burst, with observations beginning 270 s after the onset of BAT emission, and only 135 s after the main BAT emission peak. No statistically significant signal is detected above 140 GeV. The VERITAS upper limit on the fluence in a 40-minute integration corresponds to about 1\% of the prompt fluence. Our limit is particularly significant because the very-high-energy (VHE) observation started only similar to 2 minutes after the prompt emission peaked, and Fermi-Large Area Telescope observations of numerous other bursts have revealed that the high-energy emission is typically delayed relative to the prompt radiation and lasts significantly longer. Also, the proximity of GRB 150323A (z = 0.593) limits the attenuation by the extragalactic background light to similar to 50\% at 100-200 GeV. We conclude that GRB 150323A had an intrinsically very weak high-energy afterglow, or that the GeV spectrum had a turnover below similar to 100 GeV. If the GRB exploded into the stellar wind of a massive progenitor, the VHE non-detection constrains the wind density parameter to be A greater than or similar to 3 x 10(11) g . cm(-1), consistent with a standard Wolf-Rayet progenitor. Alternatively, the VHE emission from the blast wave would be weak in a very tenuous medium such as the interstellar medium, which therefore cannot be ruled out as the environment of GRB 150323A.}, 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{AbeysekaraArcherAuneetal.2018, author = {Abeysekara, A. U. and Archer, A. and Aune, Taylor and Benbow, Wystan and Bird, Ralph and Brose, Robert and Buchovecky, M. and Bugaev, V. and Cui, Wei and Daniel, M. K. and Falcone, A. and Feng, Qi and Finley, John P. and Fleischhack, H. and Flinders, A. and Fortson, L. and Furniss, Amy and Gotthelf, Eric V. and Grube, J. and Hanna, David and Hervet, O. and Holder, J. and Huang, K. and Hughes, G. and Humensky, T. B. and Huetten, M. and Johnson, Caitlin A. and Kaaret, Philip and Kar, P. and Kelley-Hoskins, N. and Kertzman, M. and Kieda, David and Krause, Maria and Kumar, S. and Lang, M. J. and Lin, T. T. Y. and Maier, Gernot and McArthur, S. and Moriarty, P. and Mukherjee, Reshmi and Ong, R. A. and Otte, Adam Nepomuk and Pandel, Dirk and Park, Nahee and Petrashyk, A. and Pohl, Martin and Popkow, Alexis and Pueschel, Elisa and Quinn, J. and Ragan, K. and Reynolds, P. T. and Richards, Gregory T. and Roache, E. and Rousselle, J. and Rulten, C. and Sadeh, I. and Santander, M. and Sembroski, G. H. and Shahinyan, Karlen and Tyler, J. and Vassiliev, V. V. and Wakely, S. P. and Ward, J. E. and Weinstein, A. and Wells, R. M. and Wilcox, P. and Wilhelm, Alina and Williams, David A. and Zitzer, B.}, title = {A Very High Energy gamma-Ray Survey toward the Cygnus Region of the Galaxy}, series = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics}, volume = {861}, 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/aac4a2}, pages = {33}, year = {2018}, abstract = {We present results from deep observations toward the Cygnus region using 300 hr of very high energy (VHE)gamma-ray data taken with the VERITAS Cerenkov telescope array and over 7 yr of high-energy.-ray data taken with the Fermi satellite at an energy above 1 GeV. As the brightest region of diffuse gamma-ray emission in the northern sky, the Cygnus region provides a promising area to probe the origins of cosmic rays. We report the identification of a potential Fermi-LAT counterpart to VER J2031+415 (TeV J2032+4130) and resolve the extended VHE source VER J2019+368 into two source candidates (VER J2018+367* and VER J2020+368*) and characterize their energy spectra. The Fermi-LAT morphology of 3FGL J2021.0+4031e (the Gamma Cygni supernova remnant) was examined, and a region of enhanced emission coincident with VER J2019+407 was identified and jointly fit with the VERITAS data. By modeling 3FGL J2015.6+3709 as two sources, one located at the location of the pulsar wind nebula CTB 87 and one at the quasar QSO J2015+371, a continuous spectrum from 1 GeV to 10 TeV was extracted for VER J2016+371 (CTB 87). An additional 71 locations coincident with Fermi-LAT sources and other potential objects of interest were tested for VHE gamma-ray emission, with no emission detected and upper limits on the differential flux placed at an average of 2.3\% of the Crab Nebula flux. We interpret these observations in a multiwavelength context and present the most detailed gamma-ray view of the region to date.}, language = {en} } @article{ArcherBenbowBirdetal.2018, author = {Archer, A. and Benbow, Wystan and Bird, Ralph and Brose, Robert and Buchovecky, M. and Bugaev, V and Cui, Wei and Danie, M. K. and Falcone, A. and Feng, Qi and Finley, John P. and Flinders, A. and Fortson, L. and Furniss, Amy and Gillanders, Gerard H. and Huttens, M. 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 Kieda, David and Krause, Maria and Krennrich, F. and Kumar, S. and Lang, M. J. and Lin, T. T. Y. and McArthur, S. and Moriarty, P. and Mukherjee, Reshmi and Nieto, Daniel and Ong, R. A. and Otte, A. N. and Park, Nahee and Petrashyk, A. and Pohl, Martin and Popkow, Alexis and Pueschel, Elisa and Quinn, J. and Ragan, K. and Reynold, P. T. and Richards, Gregory T. and Roache, E. and Rulten, C. and Sadeh, I and Sembroski, G. H. and Shahinyan, Karlen and Tyler, J. and Wakely, S. P. and Weiner, O. M. and Weinstein, A. and Wells, R. M. and Wilcox, P. and Wilhelm, Alina and Williams, David A. and Brisken, W. F. and Pontrelli, P.}, title = {HESS J1943+213}, series = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics}, volume = {862}, journal = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics}, number = {1}, publisher = {IOP Publ. Ltd.}, address = {Bristol}, organization = {VERITAS Collaboration}, issn = {0004-637X}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/aacbd0}, pages = {15}, year = {2018}, abstract = {HESS J1943+213 is a very high energy (VHE; > 100 GeV) gamma-ray source in the direction of the Galactic plane. Studies exploring the classification of the source are converging toward its identification as an extreme synchrotron BL Lac object. Here we present 38 hr of VERITAS observations of HESS J1943+213 taken over 2 yr. The source is detected with a significance of similar to 20 standard deviations, showing a remarkably stable flux and spectrum in VHE gamma-rays. Multifrequency Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) observations of the source confirm the extended, jet-like structure previously found in the 1.6 GHz band with the European VLBI Network and detect this component in the 4.6 and 7.3 GHz bands. The radio spectral indices of the core and the jet and the level of polarization derived from the VLBA observations are in a range typical for blazars. Data from VERITAS, Fermi-LAT, Swift-XRT, the FLWO 48 ' telescope, and archival infrared and hard X-ray observations are used to construct and model the spectral energy distribution (SED) of the source with a synchrotron self-Compton model. The well-measured gamma-ray peak of the SED with VERITAS and Fermi-LAT provides constraining upper limits on the source redshift. Possible contribution of secondary gamma-rays from ultra-high-energy cosmic-ray-initiated electromagnetic cascades to the gamma-ray emission is explored, finding that only a segment of the VHE spectrum can be accommodated with this process. A variability search is performed across X-ray and gamma-ray bands. No statistically significant flux or spectral variability is detected.}, language = {en} }