@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{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} } @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{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} }