@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{AliuArchambaultArlenetal.2012, author = {Aliu, E. and Archambault, S. and Arlen, T. and Aune, T. and Beilicke, M. and Benbow, W. and Bouvier, A. and Bradbury, S. M. and Buckley, J. H. and Bugaev, V. and Byrum, K. and Cannon, A. and Cesarini, A. and Ciupik, L. and Collins-Hughes, E. and Connolly, M. P. and Cui, W. and Decerprit, G. and Dickherber, R. and Duke, C. and Dumm, J. and Dwarkadas, Vikram V. and Errando, M. and Falcone, A. and Feng, Q. and Finley, J. P. and Finnegan, G. and Fortson, L. and Furniss, A. and Galante, N. and Gall, D. and Godambe, S. and Griffin, S. and Grube, J. and Gyuk, G. and Hanna, D. and Holder, J. and Huan, H. and Hughes, G. and Humensky, T. B. and Kaaret, P. and Karlsson, N. and Kertzman, M. and Khassen, Y. and Kieda, D. and Krawczynski, H. and Krennrich, F. and Lang, M. J. and Lee, K. and Maier, G. and Majumdar, P. and McArthur, S. and McCann, A. and Millis, J. and Moriarty, P. and Mukherjee, R. and Nunez, P. D. and Ong, R. A. and Orr, M. and Otte, A. N. and Pandel, D. and Park, N. and Perkins, J. S. and Pohl, M. and Prokoph, H. and Quinn, J. and Ragan, K. and Reyes, L. C. and Reynolds, P. T. and Roache, E. and Rose, H. J. and Ruppel, J. and Saxon, D. B. and Schroedter, M. and Sembroski, G. H. and Skole, C. and Smith, A. W. and Staszak, D. and Telezhinsky, Igor O. and Tesic, G. and Theiling, M. and Thibadeau, S. and Tsurusaki, K. and Tyler, J. and Varlotta, A. and Vincent, S. and Vivier, M. and Wakely, S. P. and Ward, J. E. and Weekes, T. C. and Weinstein, A. and Weisgarber, T. and Welsing, R. and Williams, D. A. and Zitzer, B.}, title = {Veritas observations of the nova in V407 CYGNI}, series = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics}, volume = {754}, 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/754/1/77}, pages = {7}, year = {2012}, abstract = {We report on very high energy (E > 100 GeV) gamma-ray observations of V407 Cygni, a symbiotic binary that underwent a nova outburst producing 0.1-10 GeV gamma rays during 2010 March 10-26. Observations were made with the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System during 2010 March 19-26 at relatively large zenith angles due to the position of V407 Cyg. An improved reconstruction technique for large zenith angle observations is presented and used to analyze the data. We do not detect V407 Cygni and place a differential upper limit on the flux at 1.6 TeV of 2.3 x 10(-12) erg cm(-2) s(-1) (at the 95\% confidence level). When considered jointly with data from Fermi-LAT, this result places limits on the acceleration of very high energy particles in the nova.}, 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{AleksicAnsoldiAntonellietal.2015, author = {Aleksic, J. and Ansoldi, S. and Antonelli, L. A. and Antoranz, P. and Babic, A. and Bangale, P. and de Almeida, U. Barres and Barrio, J. A. and Gonzalez, J. Becerra and Bednarek, W. and Bernardini, E. and Biasuzzi, B. and Biland, A. and Blanch Bigas, O. and Boller, A. and Bonnefoy, S. and Bonnoli, G. and Borracci, F. and Bretz, T. and Carmona, E. and Carosi, A. and Colin, P. and Colombo, E. and Contreras, J. L. and Cortina, J. and Covino, S. and Da Vela, P. and Dazzi, F. and De Angelis, A. and De Caneva, G. and De Lotto, B. and Wilhelmi, E. de Ona and Mendez, C. Delgado and Prester, Dijana Dominis and Dorner, D. and Doro, M. and Einecke, S. and Eisenacher, D. and Elsaesser, D. and Fonseca, M. V. and Font, L. and Frantzen, K. and Fruck, C. and Galindo, D. and Lopez, R. J. Garcia and Garczarczyk, M. and Terrats, D. Garrido and Gaug, M. and Godinovic, N. and Munoz, A. Gonzalez and Gozzini, S. R. and Hadasch, D. and Hanabata, Y. and Hayashida, M. and Herrera, J. and Hildebrand, D. and Hose, J. and Hrupec, D. and Hughes, G. and Idec, W. and Kadenius, V. and Kellermann, H. and Knoetig, M. L. and Kodani, K. and Konno, Y. and Krause, J. and Kubo, H. and Kushida, J. and La Barbera, A. and Lelas, D. and Lewandowska, N. and Lindfors, E. and Lombardi, S. and Lopez, M. and Lopez-Coto, R. and Lopez-Oramas, A. and Lorenz, E. and Lozano, I. and Makariev, M. and Mallot, K. and Maneva, G. and Mankuzhiyil, N. and Mannheim, K. and Maraschi, L. and Marcote, B. and Mariotti, M. and Martinez, M. and Mazin, D. and Menzel, U. and Miranda, J. M. and Mirzoyan, R. and Moralejo, A. and Munar-Adrover, P. and Nakajima, D. and Niedzwiecki, A. and Nilsson, K. and Nishijima, K. and Noda, K. and Orito, R. and Overkemping, A. and Paiano, S. and Palatiello, M. and Paneque, D. and Paoletti, R. and Paredes, J. M. and Paredes-Fortuny, X. and Persic, M. and Moroni, P. G. Prada and Prandini, E. and Puljak, I. and Reinthal, R. and Rhode, W. and Ribo, M. and Rico, J. and Garcia, J. Rodriguez and Rugamer, S. and Saito, T. and Saito, K. and Satalecka, K. and Scalzotto, V. and Scapin, V. and Schultz, C. and Schweizer, T. and Sun, S. and Shore, S. N. and Sillanpaa, A. and Sitarek, J. and Snidaric, I. and Sobczynska, D. and Spanier, F. and Stamatescu, V. and Stamerra, A. and Steinbring, T. and Steinke, B. and Storz, J. and Strzys, M. and Takalo, L. and Takami, H. and Tavecchio, F. and Temnikov, P. and Terzic, T. and Tescaro, D. and Teshima, M. and Thaele, J. and Tibolla, O. and Torres, D. F. and Toyama, T. and Treves, A. and Uellenbeck, M. and Vogler, P. and Zanin, R. and Archambault, S. and Archer, A. and Beilicke, M. and Benbow, W. and Berger, K. and Bird, R. and Biteau, Jonathan and Buckley, J. H. and Bugaev, V. and Cerruti, M. and Chen, Xiaoming and Ciupik, L. and Collins-Hughes, E. and Cui, W. and Eisch, J. D. and Falcone, A. and Feng, Q. and Finley, J. P. and Fortin, P. and Fortson, L. and Furniss, A. and Galante, N. and Gillanders, G. H. and Griffin, S. and Gyuk, G. and Hakansson, Nils and Holder, J. and Johnson, C. A. and Kaaret, P. and Kar, P. and Kertzman, M. and Kieda, D. and Lang, M. J. and McArthur, S. and McCann, A. and Meagher, K. and Millis, J. and Moriarty, P. and Ong, R. A. and Otte, A. N. and Perkins, J. S. and Pichel, A. and Pohl, Manuela and Popkow, A. and Prokoph, H. and Pueschel, Elisa and Ragan, K. and Reyes, L. C. 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 Tucci, J. V. and Tyler, J. and Varlotta, A. and Wakely, S. P. and Welsing, R. and Wilhelm, Alina and Williams, D. A. and Buson, S. and Finke, J. and Villata, M. and Raiteri, C. and Aller, H. D. and Aller, M. F. and Cesarini, A. and Chen, W. P. and Gurwell, M. A. and Jorstad, S. G. and Kimeridze, G. N. and Koptelova, E. and Kurtanidze, O. M. and Kurtanidze, S. O. and Lahteenmaki, A. and Larionov, V. M. and Larionova, E. G. and Lin, H. C. and McBreen, B. and Moody, J. W. and Morozova, D. A. and Marscher, A. P. and Max-Moerbeck, W. and Nikolashvili, M. G. and Perri, M. and Readhead, A. C. S. and Richards, J. L. and Ros, J. A. and Sadun, A. C. and Sakamoto, T. and Sigua, L. A. and Smith, P. S. and Tornikoski, M. and Troitsky, I. S. and Wehrle, A. E. and Jordan, B.}, title = {Unprecedented study of the broadband emission of Mrk 421 during flaring activity in March 2010}, series = {Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal}, volume = {578}, journal = {Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal}, publisher = {EDP Sciences}, address = {Les Ulis}, organization = {MAGIC Collaboration, VERITAS Collaboration}, issn = {0004-6361}, doi = {10.1051/0004-6361/201424811}, pages = {26}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Context. Because of its proximity, Mrk 421 is one of the best sources on which to study the nature of BL Lac objects. Its proximity allows us to characterize its broadband spectral energy distribution (SED). Aims. The goal is to better understand the mechanisms responsible for the broadband emission and the temporal evolution of Mrk 421. These mechanisms may also apply to more distant blazars that cannot be studied with the same level of detail. Methods. A flare occurring in March 2010 was observed for 13 consecutive days (from MJD 55 265 to MJD 55 277) with unprecedented wavelength coverage from radio to very high energy (VHE; E > 100 GeV) gamma-rays with MAGIC, VERITAS, Whipple, Fermi-LAT, MAXI, RXTE, Swift, GASP-WEBT, and several optical and radio telescopes. We modeled the day-scale SEDs with one-zone and two-zone synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) models, investigated the physical parameters, and evaluated whether the observed broadband SED variability can be associated with variations in the relativistic particle population. Results. The activity of Mrk 421 initially was high and then slowly decreased during the 13-day period. The flux variability was remarkable at the X-ray and VHE bands, but it was minor or not significant at the other bands. The variability in optical polarization was also minor. These observations revealed an almost linear correlation between the X-ray flux at the 2-10 keV band and the VHE gamma-ray flux above 200 GeV, consistent with the gamma-rays being produced by inverse-Compton scattering in the Klein-Nishina regime in the framework of SSC models. The one-zone SSC model can describe the SED of each day for the 13 consecutive days reasonably well, which once more shows the success of this standard theoretical scenario to describe the SEDs of VHE BL Lacs such as Mrk 421. This flaring activity is also very well described by a two-zone SSC model, where one zone is responsible for the quiescent emission, while the other smaller zone, which is spatially separated from the first, contributes to the daily variable emission occurring at X-rays and VHE gamma-rays. The second blob is assumed to have a smaller volume and a narrow electron energy distribution with 3 x 10(4) < gamma < 6 x 10(5), where. is the Lorentz factor of the electrons. Such a two-zone scenario would naturally lead to the correlated variability at the X-ray and VHE bands without variability at the optical/UV band, as well as to shorter timescales for the variability at the X-ray and VHE bands with respect to the variability at the other bands. Conclusions. Both the one-zone and the two-zone SSC models can describe the daily SEDs via the variation of only four or five model parameters, under the hypothesis that the variability is associated mostly with the underlying particle population. This shows that the particle acceleration and cooling mechanism that produces the radiating particles might be the main mechanism responsible for the broadband SED variations during the flaring episodes in blazars. The two-zone SSC model provides a better agreement with the observed SED at the narrow peaks of the low-and high-energy bumps during the highest activity, although the reported one-zone SSC model could be further improved by varying the parameters related to the emitting region itself (delta, B and R), in addition to the parameters related to the particle population.}, language = {en} } @article{ArcherBenbowBirdetal.2016, author = {Archer, A. and Benbow, W. and Bird, R. and Buchovecky, M. and Buckley, J. H. and Bugaev, V. and Byrum, K. and Cardenzana, J. V. and Cerruti, M. and Chen, Xuhui and Ciupik, L. and Collins-Hughes, E. and Connolly, M. P. and Eisch, J. D. and Falcone, A. and Feng, Q. 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 Gyuk, G. and Hakansson, Nils and Hanna, D. and Holder, J. and Humensky, T. B. and Huetten, M. 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 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 Park, N. and Pelassa, V. and Pohl, Martin and Popkow, A. and Pueschel, Elisa and Quinn, J. and Ragan, K. and Ratliff, G. and Reynolds, P. T. and Richards, G. T. and Roache, E. and Rousselle, J. 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 Vassiliev, V. V. and Wakely, S. P. and Weiner, O. M. and Weinstein, A. and Wilhelm, Alina and Williams, D. A. and Zitzer, B. and Yusef-Zadeh, F.}, title = {TEV GAMMA-RAY OBSERVATIONS OF THE GALACTIC CENTER RIDGE BY VERITAS}, series = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics}, volume = {821}, journal = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics}, publisher = {IOP Publ. Ltd.}, address = {Bristol}, issn = {0004-637X}, doi = {10.3847/0004-637X/821/2/129}, pages = {162 -- 167}, year = {2016}, abstract = {The Galactic Center ridge has been observed extensively in the past by both GeV and TeV gamma-ray instruments revealing a wealth of structure, including a diffuse component and the point sources G0.9+0.1 (a composite supernova remnant) and Sgr A* (believed to be associated with the supermassive black hole located at the center of our Galaxy). Previous very high energy (VHE) gamma-ray observations with the H.E.S.S.. experiment have also detected an extended TeV gamma-ray component along the Galactic plane in the >300 GeV gamma-ray regime. Here we report on observations of the Galactic Center ridge from 2010 to 2014 by the VERITAS telescope array in the >2 TeV energy range. From these observations we (1) provide improved measurements of the differential energy spectrum for Sgr A* in the >2 TeV gamma-ray regime, (2) provide a detection in the >2 TeV gamma-ray emission from the composite SNR G0.9+0.1 and an improved determination of its multi-TeV gamma-ray energy spectrum, and. (3) report on the detection of VER J1746-289, a localized enhancement of >2 TeV gamma-ray emission along the Galactic plane.}, language = {en} } @article{ArchambaultArlenAuneetal.2014, author = {Archambault, S. and Arlen, T. and Aune, T. and Beilicke, M. and Benbow, W. and Bird, R. and Boettcher, Markus and Bouvier, A. and Buckley, J. H. and Bugaev, V. and Ciupik, L. and Collins-Hughes, E. and Connolly, M. P. and Cui, W. and Dickherber, R. and Dumm, J. 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 Garson, A. III. and Gillanders, G. H. and Griffin, S. and Grube, J. and Gusbar, C. and Gyuk, G. and Hanna, D. and Holder, J. and Hughes, G. and Kaaret, P. and Kertzman, M. and Khassen, Y. and Kieda, D. and Krawczynski, H. and Lamerato, A. and Lang, M. J. and Li, K. 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 Nieto, D. 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 Quinn, J. and Ragan, K. and Reynolds, P. T. and Richards, G. T. and Roache, E. and Roustazadeh, P. and Saxon, D. B. and Sembroski, G. H. and Senturk, G. D. and Skole, C. and Staszak, D. and Telezhinsky, Igor O. and Tesic, G. and Theiling, M. and Varlotta, A. and Vassiliev, V. V. and Vincent, S. and Wakely, S. P. and Weinstein, A. and Welsing, R. and Williams, D. A. and Zitzer, B.}, title = {Test of models of the cosmic infrared background with multiwavelength observations of the blazar 1ES 1218+30.4 IN 2009}, series = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics}, volume = {788}, 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/788/2/158}, pages = {9}, year = {2014}, abstract = {We present the results of a multi-wavelength campaign targeting the blazar 1ES 1218+30.4 with observations with the 1.3 m McGraw-Hill optical telescope, the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE), the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope, and the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS). The RXTE and VERITAS observations were spread over a 13 day period and revealed clear evidence for flux variability, and a strong X-ray and gamma-ray flare on 2009 February 26 (MJD 54888). The campaign delivered a well-sampled broadband energy spectrum with simultaneous RXTE and VERITAS very high energy (VHE, > 100 GeV) observations, as well as contemporaneous optical and Fermi observations. The 1ES 1218+30.4 broadband energy spectrum-the first with simultaneous X-ray and VHE gamma-ray energy spectra-is of particular interest as the source is located at a high cosmological redshift for a VHE source (z = 0.182), leading to strong absorption of VHE gamma rays by photons from the optical/infrared extragalactic background light (EBL) via gamma VHE +gamma EBL -> e(+) e(-)pair-creation processes. We model the data with a one-zone synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) emission model and with the extragalactic absorption predicted by several recent EBL models. We find that the observations are consistent with the SSC scenario and all the EBL models considered in this work. We discuss observational and theoretical avenues to improve on the EBL constraints.}, language = {en} } @article{AliuAuneBeheraetal.2014, author = {Aliu, E. and Aune, T. and Behera, B. and Beilicke, M. and Benbow, W. and Berger, K. and Bird, R. and Bouvier, A. and Buckley, J. H. and Bugaev, V. and Cerruti, M. and Chen, Xuhui and Ciupik, L. 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 Gillanders, G. H. and Gotthelf, E. V. 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 Kargaltsev, O. and Kertzman, M. and Khassen, Y. and Kieda, D. and Krennrich, F. and Lang, M. J. and Madhavan, A. S. and Maier, G. and McArthur, S. and McCann, A. 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 Reyes, L. C. and Reynolds, P. T. and Richards, G. T. and Roache, E. and Roberts, 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 Weinstein, A. and Welsing, R. and Wilhelm, Alina and Williams, D. A. and Zitzer, B.}, title = {Spatially resolving the very high energy emission from MRGO J2019+37 wih veritas}, series = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics}, volume = {788}, 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/788/1/78}, pages = {10}, year = {2014}, abstract = {We present very high energy (VHE) imaging of MGRO J2019+37 obtained with the VERITAS observatory. The bright extended (similar to 2 degrees) unidentified Milagro source is located toward the rich star formation region Cygnus-X. MGRO J2019+37 is resolved into two VERITAS sources. The faint, point-like source VER J2016+371 overlaps CTB 87, a filled-center remnant (SNR) with no evidence of a supernova remnant shell at the present time. Its spectrum is well fit in the 0.65-10 TeV energy range by a power-law model with photon index 2.3 +/- 0.4. VER J2019+378 is a bright extended (similar to 1 degrees) source that likely accounts for the bulk of the Milagro emission and is notably coincident with PSR J2021+3651 and the star formation region Sh 2-104. Its spectrum in the range 1-30 TeV is well fit with a power-law model of photon index 1.75 +/- 0.3, among the hardest values measured in the VHE band, comparable to that observed near Vela-X. We explore the unusual spectrum and morphology in the radio and X-ray bands to constrain possible emission mechanisms for this source.}, 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{AliuArchambaultArlenetal.2014, author = {Aliu, E. and Archambault, S. and Arlen, T. and Aune, T. and Barnacka, Anna and Beilicke, M. and Benbow, W. and Berger, K. and Bird, R. and Bouvier, A. and Buckley, J. H. and Bugaev, V. and Cerruti, M. and Chen, X. 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, S. and Feng, Q. and Finley, J. P. and Fleischhack, H. 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, N. and Hanna, D. and Holder, J. and Hughes, G. and Hughes, Z. 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 Lang, M. J. and Madhavan, A. S. and Majumdar, P. and McArthur, S. and McCann, A. and Meagher, K. and Millis, J. and Moriarty, P. and Mukherjee, R. and Nelson, T. and Nieto, D. and Ong, R. A. and Otte, A. N. and Park, N. and Perkins, J. S. and Pohl, M. 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 Sadun, A. and Santander, M. and Sembroski, G. H. and Shahinyan, K. and Sheidaei, F. and Smith, A. W. and Staszak, D. and Telezhinsky, Igor O. and Theiling, M. and Tyler, J. 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 Wilhelm, Alina and Williams, D. A. and Zitzer, B. and Boettcher, Markus and Fumagalli, M.}, title = {Investigating broadband variability of the TeV blazar 1ES 1959+650}, series = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics}, volume = {797}, 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/797/2/89}, pages = {11}, year = {2014}, abstract = {We summarize broadband observations of the TeV-emitting blazar 1ES 1959+650, including optical R-band observations by the robotic telescopes Super-LOTIS and iTelescope, UV observations by Swift Ultraviolet and Optical Telescope, X-ray observations by the Swift X-ray Telescope, high-energy gamma-ray observations with the Fermi Large Area Telescope, and very-high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray observations by VERITAS above 315 GeV, all taken between 2012 April 17 and 2012 June 1 (MJD 56034 and 56079). The contemporaneous variability of the broadband spectral energy distribution is explored in the context of a simple synchrotron self Compton (SSC) model. In the SSC emission scenario, we find that the parameters required to represent the high state are significantly different than those in the low state. Motivated by possible evidence of gas in the vicinity of the blazar, we also investigate a reflected emission model to describe the observed variability pattern. This model assumes that the non-thermal emission from the jet is reflected by a nearby cloud of gas, allowing the reflected emission to re-enter the blob and produce an elevated gamma-ray state with no simultaneous elevated synchrotron flux. The model applied here, although not required to explain the observed variability pattern, represents one possible scenario which can describe the observations. As applied to an elevated VHE state of 66\% of the Crab Nebula flux, observed on a single night during the observation period, the reflected emission scenario does not support a purely leptonic non-thermal emission mechanism. The reflected emission model does, however, predict a reflected photon field with sufficient energy to enable elevated gamma-ray emission via pion production with protons of energies between 10 and 100 TeV.}, language = {en} } @article{ArchambaultArcherAuneetal.2016, author = {Archambault, S. and Archer, A. and Aune, T. and Barnacka, Anna and Benbow, W. and Bird, R. and Buchovecky, M. and Buckley, J. H. and Bugaev, V. and Byrum, K. 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 Dickinson, H. J. and Dumm, J. and Eisch, J. D. and Falcone, A. and Feng, Q. and Finley, J. P. and Fleischhack, H. and Flinders, A. 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 Khassen, Y. 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 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 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 Rousselle, J. and Rulten, 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 Wilhelm, Alina and Williams, D. A. and Zitzer, B.}, title = {EXCEPTIONALLY BRIGHT TEV FLARES FROM THE BINARY LS I+61 degrees 303}, series = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics ; Part 2, Letters}, volume = {817}, journal = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics ; Part 2, Letters}, publisher = {IOP Publ. Ltd.}, address = {Bristol}, issn = {2041-8205}, doi = {10.3847/2041-8205/817/1/L7}, pages = {6}, year = {2016}, abstract = {The TeV binary system LS I +61 degrees 303 is known for its regular, non-thermal emission pattern that traces the orbital period of the compact object in its 26.5 day orbit around its B0 Ve star companion. The system typically presents elevated TeV emission around apastron passage with flux levels between 5\% and 15\% of the steady flux from the Crab Nebula (> 300 GeV). In this article, VERITAS observations of LS I + 61 degrees. 303 taken in late 2014 are presented, during which bright TeV flares around apastron at flux levels peaking above 30\% of the Crab Nebula flux were detected. This is the brightest such activity from this source ever seen in the TeV regime. The strong outbursts have rise and fall times of less than a day. The short timescale of the flares, in conjunction with the observation of 10 TeV photons from LS I + 61 degrees 303 during the flares, provides constraints on the properties of the accelerator in the source.}, language = {en} }