@article{ArchambaultArlenAuneetal.2013, author = {Archambault, S. and Arlen, T. and Aune, T. and Behera, B. and Beilicke, M. and Benbow, W. and Bird, R. and Bouvier, A. and Buckley, J. H. and Bugaev, V. and Byrum, K. and Cesarini, A. and Ciupik, L. and Connolly, M. P. and Cui, W. and Errando, M. and Falcone, A. and Federici, Simone and Feng, Q. and Finley, J. P. and Fortson, L. and Furniss, A. and Galante, N. and Gall, D. and Gillanders, G. H. and Griffin, S. and Grube, J. and Gyuk, G. and Hanna, D. and Holder, J. and Hughes, G. and Humensky, T. B. 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 Madhavan, A. S. and Maier, G. and Majumdar, P. and McArthur, S. and McCann, A. and Millis, J. and Moriarty, P. and Mukherjee, R. and de Bhroithe, A. O'Faolain and Ong, R. A. and Otte, A. N. and Park, N. and Perkins, J. S. and Pohl, Martin and Popkow, A. and Prokoph, H. and Quinn, J. and Ragan, K. and Reyes, L. C. and Reynolds, P. T. and Richards, G. T. and Roache, E. and Saxon, D. B. and Sembroski, G. H. and Smith, A. W. and Staszak, D. and Telezhinsky, Igor O. and Theiling, M. and Varlotta, A. and Vassiliev, V. V. and Vincent, S. and Wakely, S. P. and Weekes, T. C. and Weinstein, A. and Welsing, R. and Williams, D. A. and Zitzer, B. and Boettcher, Markus and Fegan, S. J. and Fortin, P. and Halpern, J. P. and Kovalev, Y. Y. and Lister, M. L. and Liu, J. and Pushkarev, A. B. and Smith, P. S.}, title = {Discovery of a new tev Gamma-Ray source - VER J0521+211}, series = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics}, volume = {776}, journal = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics}, number = {2}, publisher = {IOP Publ. Ltd.}, address = {Bristol}, organization = {VERITAS Collaboration}, issn = {0004-637X}, doi = {10.1088/0004-637X/776/2/69}, pages = {10}, year = {2013}, abstract = {We report the detection of a new TeV gamma-ray source, VER J0521+211, based on observations made with the VERITAS imaging atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope Array. These observations were motivated by the discovery of a cluster of >30 GeV photons in the first year of Fermi Large Area Telescope observations. VER J0521+211 is relatively bright at TeV energies, with a mean photon flux of (1.93 +/- 0.13(stat) +/- 0.78(sys)) x 10(-11) cm(-2) s(-1) above 0.2 TeV during the period of the VERITAS observations. The source is strongly variable on a daily timescale across all wavebands, from optical to TeV, with a peak flux corresponding to similar to 0.3 times the steady Crab Nebula flux at TeV energies. Follow-up observations in the optical and X-ray bands classify the newly discovered TeV source as a BL Lac-type blazar with uncertain redshift, although recent measurements suggest z = 0.108. VER J0521+211 exhibits all the defining properties of blazars in radio, optical, X-ray, and gamma-ray wavelengths.}, language = {en} } @article{AliuArchambaultAuneetal.2014, author = {Aliu, E. and Archambault, S. and Aune, T. and Benbow, W. and Berger, K. and Bird, R. and Bouvier, A. 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 Dumm, J. and Errando, M. and Falcone, A. and Federici, Simone and Feng, Q. and Finley, J. P. and Fortin, P. and Fortson, L. and Furniss, A. and Galante, N. and Gillanders, G. H. 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 Kaaret, P. and Kertzman, M. and Khassen, Y. and Kieda, D. and Krennrich, F. and Kumar, S. and Lang, M. J. and Lyutikov, M. and Maier, G. and McArthur, S. and McCann, A. and Meagher, K. and Millis, J. and Moriarty, P. and Mukherjee, R. and Ong, R. A. and Otte, A. N. and Park, N. and Perkins, J. S. and Pohl, M. and Popkow, A. and Quinn, J. and Ragan, K. and Rajotte, J. and Reyes, L. C. and Reynolds, P. T. and Richards, G. T. and Roache, E. and Sembroski, G. H. and Sheidaei, F. and Smith, A. W. 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 Williams, D. A. and Zajczyk, A. and Zitzer, B.}, title = {A search for enhanced very high energy GAMMA-RAY emission from the 2013 march crab nebula flare}, series = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics ; Part 2, Letters}, volume = {781}, journal = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics ; Part 2, Letters}, number = {1}, publisher = {IOP Publ. Ltd.}, address = {Bristol}, issn = {2041-8205}, doi = {10.1088/2041-8205/781/1/L11}, pages = {7}, year = {2014}, abstract = {In 2013 March, a flaring episode from the Crab Nebula lasting similar to 2 weeks was detected by Fermi-LAT (Large Area Telescope on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope). The Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) provides simultaneous observations throughout this period. During the flare, Fermi-LAT detected a 20 fold increase in flux above the average synchrotron flux >100 MeV seen from the Crab Nebula. Simultaneous measurements with VERITAS are consistent with the non-variable long-term average Crab Nebula flux at TeV energies. Assuming a linear correlation between the very high energy flux change >1 TeV and the flux change seen in the Fermi-LAT band >100 MeV during the period of simultaneous observations, the linear correlation factor can be constrained to be at most 8.6 x 10(-3) with 95\% confidence.}, language = {en} } @article{ArcherBarnackaBeilickeetal.2014, author = {Archer, A. and Barnacka, Anna and Beilicke, M. and Benbow, W. and Berger, K. and Bird, R. and Biteau, Jonathan and Buckley, J. H. and Bugaev, V. and Byrum, K. and Cardenzana, J. V. and Cerruti, M. and Chen, W. and Chen, Xiaoming and Ciupik, L. and Connolly, M. P. and Cui, W. and Dickinson, H. J. and Dumm, J. and Eisch, J. D. and Falcone, A. and Federici, Simone and Feng, Q. and Finley, J. P. and Fleischhack, H. and Fortson, L. and Furniss, A. and Galante, N. and Griffin, S. and Griffiths, S. T. and Grube, J. and Gyuk, G. and Hakansson, Nils and Hanna, D. and Holder, J. and Hughes, G. and Johnson, C. A. and Kaaret, P. and Kar, P. and Kertzman, M. and Khassen, Y. and Kieda, D. and Krawczynski, H. 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 Nieto, D. and Ong, R. A. and Otte, A. N. and Park, N. and Perkins, J. S. and Pohl, Manuela and Popkow, A. and Prokoph, H. and Pueschel, Elisa and Quinn, J. and Ragan, K. and Rajotte, J. and Reyes, L. C. and Reynolds, P. T. and Richards, G. T. and Roache, E. 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 Varlotta, A. and Vincent, S. and Wakely, S. P. and Weinstein, A. and Welsing, R. and Wilhelm, Alina and Williams, D. A. and Zajczyk, A. and Zitzer, B.}, title = {Very-high energy observations of the galactic center region by veritas IN 2010-2012}, series = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics}, volume = {790}, journal = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics}, number = {2}, publisher = {IOP Publ. Ltd.}, address = {Bristol}, issn = {0004-637X}, doi = {10.1088/0004-637X/790/2/149}, pages = {9}, year = {2014}, abstract = {The Galactic center is an interesting region for high-energy (0.1-100 GeV) and very-high-energy (E > 100 GeV) gamma-ray observations. Potential sources of GeV/TeV gamma-ray emission have been suggested, e.g., the accretion of matter onto the supermassive black hole, cosmic rays from a nearby supernova remnant (e.g., Sgr A East), particle acceleration in a plerion, or the annihilation of dark matter particles. The Galactic center has been detected by EGRET and by Fermi/LAT in the MeV/GeV energy band. At TeV energies, the Galactic center was detected with moderate significance by the CANGAROO and Whipple 10 m telescopes and with high significance by H.E.S.S., MAGIC, and VERITAS. We present the results from three years of VERITAS observations conducted at large zenith angles resulting in a detection of the Galactic center on the level of 18 standard deviations at energies above similar to 2.5 TeV. The energy spectrum is derived and is found to be compatible with hadronic, leptonic, and hybrid emission models discussed in the literature. Future, more detailed measurements of the high-energy cutoff and better constraints on the high-energy flux variability will help to refine and/or disentangle the individual models.}, language = {en} } @article{ArchambaultAuneBeheraetal.2014, author = {Archambault, S. and Aune, T. and Behera, B. and Beilicke, M. and Benbow, W. and Berger, K. and Bird, R. and Biteau, Jonathan and Bugaev, V. and Byrum, K. and Cardenzana, J. V. and Cerruti, M. and Chen, Xuhui and Ciupik, L. and Connolly, M. P. and Cui, Wei and Dumm, J. and Errando, M. and Falcone, A. and Federici, Simone and Feng, Q. and Finley, J. P. and Fleischhack, H. and Fortson, L. and Furniss, A. and Galante, N. and Gillanders, G. H. 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 Madhavan, A. S. and Maier, G. and McCann, A. and Meagher, K. and Moriarty, P. and Mukherjee, R. and Nieto, Daniel and Ong, R. A. and Otte, A. N. and Park, N. and Pohl, Martin and Popkow, A. and Prokoph, H. and Quinn, J. and Ragan, K. and Rajotte, J. and Reyes, L. C. and Reynolds, P. T. and Richards, G. T. and Roache, E. and Sembroski, G. H. and Shahinyan, K. and Staszak, D. and Telezhinsky, Igor O. and Tucci, J. V. and Tyler, J. and Varlotta, A. and Vassiliev, V. V. and Vincent, S. and Wakely, S. P. and Weinstein, A. and Welsing, R. and Wilhelm, Alina and Williams, D. A. and Ackermann, Margit and Ajello, M. and Albert, A. and Baldini, L. and Bastieri, D. and Bellazzini, R. and Bissaldi, E. and Bregeon, Johan and Buehler, R. and Buson, S. and Caliandro, G. A. and Cameron, R. A. and Caraveo, P. A. and Cavazzuti, E. and Charles, E. and Chiang, J. and Ciprini, S. and Claus, R. and Cutini, S. and de Angelis, A. and de Palma, F. and Dermer, C. D. and Digel, S. W. and Di Venere, L. and Drell, P. S. and Favuzzi, C. and Franckowiak, A. and Fusco, P. and Gargano, F. and Gasparrini, D. and Giglietto, N. and Giordano, F. and Giroletti, M. and Grenier, I. A. and Guiriec, S. and Jogler, T. and Kuss, M. and Larsson, S. and Latronico, L. and Longo, F. and Loparco, F. and Lubrano, P. and Madejski, G. M. and Mayer, M. and Mazziotta, Mario Nicola and Michelson, P. F. and Mizuno, T. and Monzani, M. E. and Morselli, Aldo and Murgia, S. and Nuss, E. and Ohsugi, T. and Ormes, J. F. and Paneque, D. and Perkins, J. S. and Piron, F. and Pivato, G. and Raino, S. and Razzano, M. and Reimer, A. and Reimer, Olaf and Ritz, S. and Schaal, M. and Sgro, C. and Siskind, E. J. and Spinelli, P. and Takahashi, H. and Tibaldo, L. and Tinivella, M. and Troja, E. and Vianello, G. and Werner, M. and Wood, M.}, title = {Deep broadband observations of the distant gamma-ray blazar PKS 1424+240}, series = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics ; Part 2, Letters}, volume = {785}, 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, Fermi LAT Collaboration}, issn = {2041-8205}, doi = {10.1088/2041-8205/785/1/L16}, pages = {8}, year = {2014}, abstract = {We present deep VERITAS observations of the blazar PKS 1424+240, along with contemporaneous Fermi Large Area Telescope, Swift X-ray Telescope, and Swift UV Optical Telescope data between 2009 February 19 and 2013 June 8. This blazar resides at a redshift of z >= 0.6035, displaying a significantly attenuated gamma-ray flux above 100 GeV due to photon absorption via pair-production with the extragalactic background light. We present more than 100 hr of VERITAS observations over three years, a multiwavelength light curve, and the contemporaneous spectral energy distributions. The source shows a higher flux of (2.1 +/- 0.3) x 10(-7) photons m(-2) s(-1) above 120 GeV in 2009 and 2011 as compared to the flux measured in 2013, corresponding to (1.02 +/- 0.08) x 10-7 photons m(-2) s(-1) above 120 GeV. The measured differential very high energy (VHE; E >= 100 GeV) spectral indices are Gamma = 3.8 +/- 0.3, 4.3 +/- 0.6 and 4.5 +/- 0.2 in 2009, 2011, and 2013, respectively. No significant spectral change across the observation epochs is detected. We find no evidence for variability at gamma-ray opacities of greater than tau = 2, where it is postulated that any variability would be small and occur on timescales longer than a year if hadronic cosmic-ray interactions with extragalactic photon fields provide a secondary VHE photon flux. The data cannot rule out such variability due to low statistics.}, language = {en} } @article{AliuArchambaultAuneetal.2014, author = {Aliu, E. and Archambault, S. and Aune, T. and Behera, B. and Beilicke, M. and Benbow, W. and Berger, K. and Bird, R. and Buckley, J. H. and Bugaev, V. and Cardenzana, J. V. and Cerruti, M. and Chen, Xuhui and Ciupik, L. and Collins-Hughes, E. and Connolly, M. P. and Cui, W. and Dumm, J. and Dwarkadas, Vikram V. and Errando, M. 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 Hanna, D. and Holder, J. and Hughes, G. and Humensky, T. B. and Kaaret, P. and Kertzman, M. and Khassen, Y. and Kieda, D. and Krennrich, F. and Kumar, S. and Lang, M. J. and Madhavan, A. S. and Maier, G. and McCann, A. J. and Meagher, K. and Millis, J. and Moriarty, P. and Mukherjee, R. and Nieto, D. and Ong, R. A. and Otte, A. N. and Pandel, D. and Park, N. and Pohl, Martin and Popkow, A. and Prokoph, H. and Quinn, J. and Ragan, K. and Rajotte, J. and Ratliff, G. and Reyes, L. C. and Reynolds, P. T. and Richards, G. T. and Roache, E. and Rousselle, J. and Sembroski, G. H. and Shahinyan, K. and Sheidaei, F. and Smith, A. W. and Staszak, D. and Telezhinsky, Igor O. and Tsurusaki, K. and Tucci, J. V. and Tyler, J. and Varlotta, A. and Vassiliev, V. V. and Vincent, S. and Wakely, S. P. and Ward, J. E. and Weinstein, A. and Welsing, R. and Wilhelm, Alina}, title = {Investigating the TeV morpholoy of MGRO J1908+06 with veritas}, series = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics}, volume = {787}, journal = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics}, number = {2}, publisher = {IOP Publ. Ltd.}, address = {Bristol}, issn = {0004-637X}, doi = {10.1088/0004-637X/787/2/166}, pages = {7}, year = {2014}, abstract = {We report on deep observations of the extended TeV gamma-ray source MGRO J1908+06 made with the VERITAS very high energy gamma-ray observatory. Previously, the TeV emission has been attributed to the pulsar wind nebula (PWN) of the Fermi-LAT pulsar PSR J1907+0602. We detect MGRO J1908+06 at a significance level of 14 standard deviations (14 sigma) and measure a photon index of 2.20 +/- 0.10(stat) +/- 0.20(sys). The TeV emission is extended, covering the region near PSR J1907+0602 and also extending toward SNR G40.5-0.5. When fitted with a two-dimensional Gaussian, the intrinsic extension has a standard deviation of sigma(src) = 0 degrees.44 +/- 0 degrees.02. In contrast to other TeV PWNe of similar age in which the TeV spectrum softens with distance from the pulsar, the TeV spectrum measured near the pulsar location is consistent with that measured at a position near the rim of G40.5-0.5, 0 degrees.33 away.}, 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{OrientiFinkeRaiterietal.2015, author = {Orienti, M. and Finke, J. and Raiteri, C. M. and Hovatta, T. and Larsson, J. and Max-Moerbeck, W. and Perkins, J. and Readhead, A. C. S. and Richards, J. L. and Beilicke, M. and Benbow, W. and Berger, K. and Bird, R. and Bugaev, V. and Cardenzana, J. V. and Cerruti, M. and Chen, Xuhui and Ciupik, L. and Dickinson, H. J. and Eisch, J. D. and Errando, M. and Falcone, A. and Finley, J. P. and Fleischhack, H. and Fortin, P. and Fortson, L. and Furniss, A. and Gerard, L. and Gillanders, G. H. and Griffiths, S. T. and Grube, J. and Gyuk, G. and Hakansson, Nils and Holder, J. and Humensky, T. B. and Kar, P. and Kertzman, M. and Khassen, Y. and Kieda, D. and Krennrich, F. and Kumar, S. and Lang, M. J. and Maier, G. and McCann, A. and Meagher, K. and Moriarty, P. and Mukherjee, R. and Nieto, D. and Ong, R. A. and Otte, A. N. and Pohl, Manuela and Popkow, A. and Prokoph, H. and Pueschel, Elisa and Quinn, J. and Ragan, K. and Reynolds, P. T. and Richards, G. T. and Roache, E. and Rousselle, J. and Santander, M. and Sembroski, G. H. and Smith, A. W. and Staszak, D. and Telezhinsky, Igor O. and Tucci, J. V. and Tyler, J. and Varlotta, A. and Vassiliev, V. V. and Wakely, S. P. and Weinstein, A. and Welsing, R. and Williams, D. A. and Zitzer, B.}, title = {The most powerful flaring activity from the NLSyl PMN J0948+0022}, series = {Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society}, volume = {446}, journal = {Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society}, number = {3}, publisher = {Oxford Univ. Press}, address = {Oxford}, organization = {VERITAS Collaboration}, issn = {0035-8711}, doi = {10.1093/mnras/stu2251}, pages = {2456 -- 2467}, year = {2015}, abstract = {We report on multifrequency observations performed during 2012 December-2013 August of the first narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy detected in gamma-rays, PMN J0948+0022 (z = 0.5846). A y -ray flare was observed by the Large Area Telescope on board Fermi during 2012 December-2013 January, reaching a daily peak flux in the 0.1-100 GeV energy range of (155 31) x 10 8 ph cm(-2) S-1 on 2013 January 1, corresponding to an apparent isotropic luminosity of similar to 1.5 x 1048 erg s(-1). The y -ray flaring period triggered Swift and Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) observations in addition to radio and optical monitoring by Owens Valley Radio Observatory, Monitoring Of Jets in Active galactic nuclei with VLBA Experiments, and Catalina Real-time Transient Survey. A strong flare was observed in optical, UV, and X-rays on 2012 December 30, quasi-simultaneously to the y -ray flare, reaching a record flux for this source from optical to y gamma-rays. VERITAS observations at very high energy (E > 100 GeV) during 2013 January 6-17 resulted in an upper limit of F>0.2 Trev < 4.0 x 10(-12) ph cm(-2) s(-1). We compared the spectral energy distribution (SED) of the flaring state in 2013 January with that of an intermediate state observed in 2011. The two SEDs, modelled as synchrotron emission and an external Compton scattering of seed photons from a dust torus, can be modelled by changing both the electron distribution parameters and the magnetic field.}, language = {en} } @article{AliuArchambaultArcheretal.2015, author = {Aliu, E. and Archambault, S. and Archer, A. and Aune, T. and Barnacka, Anna and Beilicke, M. and Benbow, W. and Bird, R. and Buckley, J. H. and Bugaev, V. and Byrum, K. and Cardenzana, J. V. and Cerruti, M. and Chen, Xuhui and Ciupik, L. and Connolly, M. P. and Cui, W. and Dickinson, H. J. and Dumm, J. 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 Griffiths, S. T. and Grube, J. and Gyuk, G. and Kansson, N. H. A. 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 Krennrich, F. and Kumar, S. and Lang, M. J. and Lyutikov, M. 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 Otte, A. N. and Park, N. and Pohl, Manuela and Popkow, A. and Prokoph, H. and Pueschel, Elisa and Quinn, J. and Ragan, K. and Reyes, L. C. and Reynolds, P. T. and Richards, G. T. and Roache, E. 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 Varlotta, A. and Vincent, S. and Wakely, S. P. and Weinstein, A. and Williams, D. A. and Zajczyk, A. and Zitzer, B.}, title = {A search for pulsations from geminga above 100 GeV with veritas}, series = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics}, volume = {800}, journal = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics}, number = {1}, publisher = {IOP Publ. Ltd.}, address = {Bristol}, issn = {0004-637X}, doi = {10.1088/0004-637X/800/1/61}, pages = {7}, year = {2015}, abstract = {We present the results of 71.6 hr of observations of the Geminga pulsar (PSR J0633+1746) with the VERITAS very-high-energy gamma-ray telescope array. Data taken with VERITAS between 2007 November and 2013 February were phase-folded using a Geminga pulsar timing solution derived from data recorded by the XMM-Newton and Fermi-LAT space telescopes. No significant pulsed emission above 100 GeV is observed, and we report upper limits at the 95\% confidence level on the integral flux above 135 GeV (spectral analysis threshold) of 4.0x10(-13) s(-1) cm(-2) and 1.7 x 10(-13) s(-1) cm(-2) for the two principal peaks in the emission profile. These upper limits, placed in context with phase-resolved spectral energy distributions determined from 5 yr of data from the Fermi-Large Area Telescope (LAT), constrain possible hardening of the Geminga pulsar emission spectra above similar to 50 GeV.}, language = {en} } @article{AliuArcherAuneetal.2015, author = {Aliu, E. and Archer, A. and Aune, T. and Barnacka, Anna and Behera, B. and Beilicke, M. and Benbow, W. and Berger, K. and Bird, R. and Buckley, J. H. and Bugaev, V. and Byrum, K. and Cardenzana, J. V. and Cerruti, M. and Chen, Xuhui and Ciupik, L. and Connolly, M. P. and Cui, Wei and Dickinson, H. J. and Dumm, J. and Eisch, J. D. and Errando, M. and Falcone, A. and Federici, Simone and Feng, Q. and Finley, J. P. and Fortin, P. and Fortson, L. and Furniss, A. and Galante, N. and Gillanders, G. H. and Griffin, S. and Griffiths, S. T. and Grube, J. and Gyuk, G. and Hakansson, Nils and Hanna, D. and Holder, J. and Hughes, G. and Humensky, T. B. and Johnson, C. A. and Kaaret, P. and Kar, P. and Kertzman, M. and Khassen, Y. and Kieda, D. and Krawczynski, H. and Krennrich, F. and Kumar, S. and Lang, M. J. and Madhavan, A. and McArthur, S. and McCann, A. and Meagher, K. and Millis, J. and Moriarty, P. and Nieto, Daniel and Ong, R. A. and Orr, M. and Otte, A. N. and Park, N. and Perkins, J. S. and Pohl, Martin and Popkow, A. and Prokoph, H. and Pueschel, Elisa and Quinn, J. and Ragan, K. and Rajotte, J. and Reyes, L. C. and Reynolds, P. T. and Richards, G. T. and Roache, E. and Sembroski, G. H. and Shahinyan, K. and Staszak, D. and Telezhinsky, Igor O. and Tucci, J. V. and Tyler, J. and Varlotta, A. and Vassiliev, V. V. and Wakely, S. P. and Weinstein, A. and Welsing, R. and Wilhelm, Alina and Williams, D. A. and Zitzer, B.}, title = {Veritas observations of the BL LAC OBJECT PG 1553+113}, series = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics}, volume = {799}, journal = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics}, number = {1}, publisher = {IOP Publ. Ltd.}, address = {Bristol}, issn = {0004-637X}, doi = {10.1088/0004-637X/799/1/7}, pages = {9}, year = {2015}, abstract = {We present results from VERITAS observations of the BL Lac object PG 1553+113 spanning the years 2010, 2011, and 2012. The time-averaged spectrum, measured between 160 and 560 GeV, is well described by a power law with a spectral index of 4.33 +/- 0.09. The time-averaged integral flux above 200 GeV measured for this period was (1.69 +/- 0.06) x 10(-11) photons cm(-2) s(-1), corresponding to 6.9\% of the Crab Nebula flux. We also present the combined gamma-ray spectrum from the Fermi Large Area Telescope and VERITAS covering an energy range from 100 MeV to 560 GeV. The data are well fit by a power law with an exponential cutoff at 101.9 +/- 3.2 GeV. The origin of the cutoff could be intrinsic to PG 1553+113 or be due to the gamma-ray opacity of our universe through pair production off the extragalactic background light (EBL). Given lower limits to the redshift of z > 0.395 based on optical/UV observations of PG 1553+113, the cutoff would be dominated by EBL absorption. Conversely, the small statistical uncertainties of the VERITAS energy spectrum have allowed us to provide a robust upper limit on the redshift of PG 1553+113 of z <= 0.62. A strongly elevated mean flux of (2.50 +/- 0.14) x10(-11) photons cm(-2) s(-1) (10.3\% of the Crab Nebula flux) was observed during 2012, with the daily flux reaching as high as (4.44 +/- 0.71) x10(-11) photons cm(-2) s(-1) (18.3\% of the Crab Nebula flux) on MJD 56048. The light curve measured during the 2012 observing season is marginally inconsistent with a steady flux, giving a chi(2) probability for a steady flux of 0.03\%.}, 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} }