TY  - JOUR
A1  - Aliu, E.
A1  - Arlen, T.
A1  - Aune, T.
A1  - Beilicke, M.
A1  - Benbow, W.
A1  - Boettcher, Markus
A1  - Bouvier, A.
A1  - Bradbury, S. M.
A1  - Buckley, J. H.
A1  - Bugaev, V.
A1  - Cannon, A.
A1  - Cesarini, A.
A1  - Ciupik, L.
A1  - Collins-Hughes, E.
A1  - Connolly, M. P.
A1  - Cui, W.
A1  - Dickherber, R.
A1  - Errando, M.
A1  - Falcone, A.
A1  - Finley, J. P.
A1  - Fortson, L.
A1  - Furniss, A.
A1  - Galante, N.
A1  - Gall, D.
A1  - Gillanders, G. H.
A1  - Godambe, S.
A1  - Griffin, S.
A1  - Grube, J.
A1  - Gyuk, G.
A1  - Hanna, D.
A1  - Holder, J.
A1  - Huan, H.
A1  - Hughes, G.
A1  - Hui, C. M.
A1  - Humensky, T. B.
A1  - Kaaret, P.
A1  - Karlsson, N.
A1  - Kertzman, M.
A1  - Kieda, D.
A1  - Krawczynski, H.
A1  - Krennrich, F.
A1  - Madhavan, A. S.
A1  - Maier, G.
A1  - Majumdar, P.
A1  - McArthur, S.
A1  - McCann, A.
A1  - Moriarty, P.
A1  - Mukherjee, R.
A1  - Ong, R. A.
A1  - Orr, M.
A1  - Otte, A. N.
A1  - Park, N.
A1  - Perkins, J. S.
A1  - Pichel, A.
A1  - Pohl, Martin
A1  - Prokoph, H.
A1  - Quinn, J.
A1  - Ragan, K.
A1  - Reyes, L. C.
A1  - Reynolds, P. T.
A1  - Roache, E.
A1  - Rose, H. J.
A1  - Ruppel, J.
A1  - Saxon, D. B.
A1  - Schroedter, M.
A1  - Sembroski, G. H.
A1  - Skole, C.
A1  - Smith, A. W.
A1  - Staszak, D.
A1  - Tesic, G.
A1  - Theiling, M.
A1  - Thibadeau, S.
A1  - Tsurusaki, K.
A1  - Tyler, J.
A1  - Varlotta, A.
A1  - Vincent, S.
A1  - Vivier, M.
A1  - Wakely, S. P.
A1  - Ward, J. E.
A1  - Weinstein, A.
A1  - Weisgarber, T.
A1  - Williams, D. A.
T1  - Veritas observations of unusual extragalactic transient swift J164449.3+573451
JF  - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics ; Part 2, Letters
N2  - We report on very high energy (>100 GeV) gamma-ray observations of Swift J164449.3+573451, an unusual transient object first detected by the Swift Observatory and later detected by multiple radio, optical, and X-ray observatories. A total exposure of 28 hr was obtained on Swift J164449.3+573451 with the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System ( VERITAS) during 2011 March 28-April 15. We do not detect the source and place a differential upper limit on the emission at 500 GeV during these observations of 1.4 x 10(-12) erg cm(-2) s(-1) (99% confidence level). We also present time-resolved upper limits and use a flux limit averaged over the X-ray flaring period to constrain various emission scenarios that can accommodate both the radio-through-X-ray emission detected from the source and the lack of detection by VERITAS.
KW  - accretion, accretion disks
KW  - galaxies: active
KW  - gamma rays: galaxies
KW  - radiation mechanisms: non-thermal
Y1  - 2011
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/738/2/L30
SN  - 2041-8205
VL  - 738
IS  - 2
PB  - IOP Publ. Ltd.
CY  - Bristol
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Archambault, S.
A1  - Archer, A.
A1  - Benbow, W.
A1  - Bird, R.
A1  - Biteau, Jonathan
A1  - Buchovecky, M.
A1  - Buckley, J. H.
A1  - Bugaev, V.
A1  - Byrum, K.
A1  - Cerruti, M.
A1  - Chen, Xuhui
A1  - Ciupik, L.
A1  - Connolly, M. P.
A1  - Cui, W.
A1  - Eisch, J. D.
A1  - Errando, M.
A1  - Falcone, A.
A1  - Feng, Q.
A1  - Finley, J. P.
A1  - Fleischhack, H.
A1  - Fortin, P.
A1  - Fortson, L.
A1  - Furniss, A.
A1  - Gillanders, G. H.
A1  - Griffin, S.
A1  - Grube, J.
A1  - Gyuk, G.
A1  - Huetten, M.
A1  - Hakansson, Nils
A1  - Hanna, D.
A1  - Holder, J.
A1  - Humensky, T. B.
A1  - Johnson, C. A.
A1  - Kaaret, P.
A1  - Kar, P.
A1  - Kelley-Hoskins, N.
A1  - Kertzman, M.
A1  - Kieda, D.
A1  - Krause, M.
A1  - Krennrich, F.
A1  - Kumar, S.
A1  - Lang, M. J.
A1  - Maier, G.
A1  - McArthur, S.
A1  - McCann, A.
A1  - Meagher, K.
A1  - Moriarty, P.
A1  - Mukherjee, R.
A1  - Nguyen, T.
A1  - Nieto, D.
A1  - Ong, R. A.
A1  - Otte, A. N.
A1  - Park, N.
A1  - Perkins, J. S.
A1  - Pichel, A.
A1  - Pohl, Martin
A1  - Popkow, A.
A1  - Pueschel, Elisa
A1  - Quinn, J.
A1  - Ragan, K.
A1  - Reynolds, P. T.
A1  - Richards, G. T.
A1  - Roache, E.
A1  - Rovero, A. C.
A1  - Santander, M.
A1  - Sembroski, G. H.
A1  - Shahinyan, K.
A1  - Smith, A. W.
A1  - Staszak, D.
A1  - Telezhinsky, Igor O.
A1  - Tucci, J. V.
A1  - Tyler, J.
A1  - Vincent, S.
A1  - Wakely, S. P.
A1  - Weiner, O. M.
A1  - Weinstein, A.
A1  - Williams, D. A.
A1  - Zitzer, B.
A1  - Fumagalli, M.
A1  - Prochaska, J. X.
T1  - UPPER LIMITS FROM FIVE YEARS OF BLAZAR OBSERVATIONS WITH THE VERITAS CHERENKOV TELESCOPES
JF  - The astronomical journal
N2  - 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.
KW  - BL Lacertae objects: general
KW  - galaxies: active
KW  - gamma rays: galaxies
KW  - radiation mechanisms: non-thermal
Y1  - 2016
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3847/0004-6256/151/6/142
SN  - 0004-6256
SN  - 1538-3881
VL  - 151
PB  - IOP Publ. Ltd.
CY  - Bristol
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Archer, A.
A1  - Barnacka, Anna
A1  - Beilicke, M.
A1  - Benbow, W.
A1  - Berger, K.
A1  - Bird, R.
A1  - Biteau, Jonathan
A1  - Buckley, J. H.
A1  - Bugaev, V.
A1  - Byrum, K.
A1  - Cardenzana, J. V.
A1  - Cerruti, M.
A1  - Chen, W.
A1  - Chen, Xiaoming
A1  - Ciupik, L.
A1  - Connolly, M. P.
A1  - Cui, W.
A1  - Dickinson, H. J.
A1  - Dumm, J.
A1  - Eisch, J. D.
A1  - Falcone, A.
A1  - Federici, Simone
A1  - Feng, Q.
A1  - Finley, J. P.
A1  - Fleischhack, H.
A1  - Fortson, L.
A1  - Furniss, A.
A1  - Galante, N.
A1  - Griffin, S.
A1  - Griffiths, S. T.
A1  - Grube, J.
A1  - Gyuk, G.
A1  - Hakansson, Nils
A1  - Hanna, D.
A1  - Holder, J.
A1  - Hughes, G.
A1  - Johnson, C. A.
A1  - Kaaret, P.
A1  - Kar, P.
A1  - Kertzman, M.
A1  - Khassen, Y.
A1  - Kieda, D.
A1  - Krawczynski, H.
A1  - Kumar, S.
A1  - Lang, M. J.
A1  - Maier, G.
A1  - McArthur, S.
A1  - McCann, A.
A1  - Meagher, K.
A1  - Moriarty, P.
A1  - Mukherjee, R.
A1  - Nieto, D.
A1  - Ong, R. A.
A1  - Otte, A. N.
A1  - Park, N.
A1  - Perkins, J. S.
A1  - Pohl, Manuela
A1  - Popkow, A.
A1  - Prokoph, H.
A1  - Pueschel, Elisa
A1  - Quinn, J.
A1  - Ragan, K.
A1  - Rajotte, J.
A1  - Reyes, L. C.
A1  - Reynolds, P. T.
A1  - Richards, G. T.
A1  - Roache, E.
A1  - Sembroski, G. H.
A1  - Shahinyan, K.
A1  - Smith, A. W.
A1  - Staszak, D.
A1  - Telezhinsky, Igor O.
A1  - Tucci, J. V.
A1  - Tyler, J.
A1  - Varlotta, A.
A1  - Vincent, S.
A1  - Wakely, S. P.
A1  - Weinstein, A.
A1  - Welsing, R.
A1  - Wilhelm, Alina
A1  - Williams, D. A.
A1  - Zajczyk, A.
A1  - Zitzer, B.
T1  - Very-high energy observations of the galactic center region by veritas IN 2010-2012
JF  - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics
N2  - 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.
KW  - astroparticle physics
KW  - black hole physics
KW  - Galaxy: center
KW  - gamma rays: galaxies
KW  - methods: data analysis
KW  - radiation mechanisms: non-thermal
Y1  - 2014
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/790/2/149
SN  - 0004-637X
SN  - 1538-4357
VL  - 790
IS  - 2
PB  - IOP Publ. Ltd.
CY  - Bristol
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Chen, Xuhui
A1  - Chatterjee, Ritaban
A1  - Zhang, Haocheng
A1  - Pohl, Martin
A1  - Fossati, Giovanni
A1  - Boettcher, Markus
A1  - Bailyn, Charles D.
A1  - Bonning, Erin W.
A1  - Buxton, Michelle
A1  - Coppi, Paolo
A1  - Isler, Jedidah
A1  - Maraschi, Laura
A1  - Urry, Meg
T1  - Magnetic field amplification and flat spectrum radio quasars
JF  - Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
N2  - We perform time-dependent, spatially resolved simulations of blazar emission to evaluate several flaring scenarios related to magnetic-field amplification and enhanced particle acceleration. The code explicitly accounts for light-travel-time effects and is applied to flares observed in the flat spectrum radio quasar (FSRQ) PKS 0208-512, which show optical/gamma-ray correlation at some times, but orphan optical flares at other times. Changes in both the magnetic field and the particle acceleration efficiency are explored as causes of flares. Generally, external Compton (EC) emission appears to describe the available data better than a synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) scenario, and in particular orphan optical flares are difficult to produce in the SSC framework. X-ray soft-excesses, gamma-ray spectral hardening, and the detections at very high energies of certain FSRQs during flares find natural explanations in the EC scenario with particle acceleration change. Likewise, optical flares with/without gamma-ray counterparts can be explained by different allocations of energy between the magnetization and particle acceleration, which may be related to the orientation of the magnetic field relative to the jet flow. We also calculate the degree of linear polarization and polarization angle as a function of time for a jet with helical magnetic field. Tightening of the magnetic helix immediately downstream of the jet perturbations, where flares occur, can be sufficient to explain the increases in the degree of polarization and a rotation by a parts per thousand yen180A degrees of the observed polarization angle, if light-travel-time effects are properly considered.
KW  - radiation mechanisms: non-thermal
KW  - galaxies: active
KW  - galaxies: jets
KW  - quasars: individual: PKS 0208-512
Y1  - 2014
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stu713
SN  - 0035-8711
SN  - 1365-2966
VL  - 441
IS  - 3
SP  - 2188
EP  - 2199
PB  - Oxford Univ. Press
CY  - Oxford
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Chen, Xuhui
A1  - Pohl, Martin
A1  - Bottcher, Markus
A1  - Gao, Shan
T1  - Particle diffusion and localized acceleration in inhomogeneous AGN jets - II. Stochastic variation
JF  - Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
N2  - We study the stochastic variation of blazar emission under a 2D spatially resolved leptonic jet model we previously developed. Random events of particle acceleration and injection in small zones within the emission region are assumed to be responsible for flux variations. In addition to producing spectral energy distributions that describe the observed flux of Mrk 421, we further analyse the timing properties of the simulated light curves, such as the power spectral density (PSD) at different bands, flux-flux correlations, aswell as the cross-correlation function between X-rays and TeV gamma-rays. We find spectral breaks in the PSD at a time-scale comparable to the dominant characteristic time-scale in the system, which is usually the predefined decay time-scale of an acceleration event. Cooling imposes a delay, and so PSDs taken at lower energy bands in each emission component (synchrotron or inverse Compton) generally break at longer time-scales. The flux-flux correlation between X-rays and TeV gamma-rays can be either quadratic or linear, depending on whether or not there are large variation of the injection into the particle acceleration process. When the relationship is quadratic, the TeV flares lag the X-ray flares, and the optical and GeV flares are large enough to be comparable to the ones in X-ray. When the relationship is linear, the lags are insignificant, and the optical and GeV flares are small.
KW  - acceleration of particles
KW  - diffusion
KW  - radiation mechanisms: non-thermal
KW  - galaxies: active
KW  - BL Lacertae objects: individual: Mrk 421
KW  - galaxies: jets
Y1  - 2016
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw528
SN  - 0035-8711
SN  - 1365-2966
VL  - 458
SP  - 3260
EP  - 3271
PB  - Oxford Univ. Press
CY  - Oxford
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Chen, Xuhui
A1  - Pohl, Martin
A1  - Böttcher, Markus
T1  - Particle diffusion and localized acceleration in inhomogeneous AGN jets - I. Steady-state spectra
JF  - Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
N2  - We study the acceleration, transport, and emission of particles in relativistic jets. Localized stochastic particle acceleration, spatial diffusion, and synchrotron as well as synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) emission are considered in a leptonic model. To account for inhomogeneity, we use a 2D axisymmetric cylindrical geometry for both relativistic electrons and magnetic field. In this first phase of our work, we focus on steady-state spectra that develop from a time-dependent model. We demonstrate that small isolated acceleration region in a much larger emission volume are sufficient to accelerate particles to high energy. Diffusive escape from these small regions provides a natural explanation for the spectral form of the jet emission. The location of the acceleration regions within the jet is found to affect the cooling break of the spectrum in this diffusive model. Diffusion-caused energy-dependent inhomogeneity in the jets predicts that the SSC spectrum is harder than the synchrotron spectrum. There can also be a spectral hardening towards the high-energy section of the synchrotron spectrum, if particle escape is relatively slow. These two spectral hardening effects indicate that the jet inhomogeneity might be a natural explanation for the unexpected hard. gamma-ray spectra observed in some blazars.
KW  - acceleration of particles
KW  - diffusion
KW  - radiation mechanisms: non-thermal
KW  - galaxies:active
KW  - galaxies: jets
Y1  - 2015
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stu2438
SN  - 0035-8711
SN  - 1365-2966
VL  - 447
IS  - 1
SP  - 530
EP  - 544
PB  - Oxford Univ. Press
CY  - Oxford
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Collaboration, H. E. S. S.
A1  - Abramowski, Attila
A1  - Aharonian, Felix A.
A1  - Benkhali, Faical  Ait
A1  - Akhperjanian, A. G.
A1  - Angüner, Ekrem Oǧuzhan
A1  - Anton, Gisela
A1  - Balenderan, Shangkari
A1  - Balzer, Arnim
A1  - Barnacka, Anna
A1  - Becherini, Yvonne
A1  - Tjus, J. Becker
A1  - Bernlöhr, K.
A1  - Birsin, E.
A1  - Bissaldi, E.
A1  - Biteau, Jonathan
A1  - Boettcher, Markus
A1  - Boisson, Catherine
A1  - Bolmont, J.
A1  - Bordas, Pol
A1  - Brucker, J.
A1  - Brun, Francois
A1  - Brun, Pierre
A1  - Bulik, Tomasz
A1  - Carrigan, Svenja
A1  - Casanova, Sabrina
A1  - Cerruti, M.
A1  - Chadwick, Paula M.
A1  - Chalme-Calvet, R.
A1  - Chaves, Ryan C. G.
A1  - Cheesebrough, A.
A1  - Chretien, M.
A1  - Colafrancesco, Sergio
A1  - Cologna, Gabriele
A1  - Conrad, Jan
A1  - Couturier, C.
A1  - Cui, Y.
A1  - Dalton, M.
A1  - Daniel, M. K.
A1  - Davids, I. D.
A1  - Degrange, B.
A1  - Deil, C.
A1  - de Wilt, P.
A1  - Dickinson, H. J.
A1  - Djannati-Ataï, A.
A1  - Domainko, W.
A1  - Dubus, G.
A1  - Dutson, K.
A1  - Dyks, J.
A1  - Dyrda, M.
A1  - Edwards, T.
A1  - Egberts, Kathrin
A1  - Eger, P.
A1  - Espigat, P.
A1  - Farnier, C.
A1  - Fegan, S.
A1  - Feinstein, F.
A1  - Fernandes, M. V.
A1  - Fernandez, D.
A1  - Fiasson, A.
A1  - Fontaine, G.
A1  - Foerster, A.
A1  - Fuessling, M.
A1  - Gajdus, M.
A1  - Gallant, Y. A.
A1  - Garrigoux, T.
A1  - Giavitto, G.
A1  - Giebels, B.
A1  - Glicenstein, J. F.
A1  - Grondin, M. -H.
A1  - Grudzinska, M.
A1  - Haeffner, S.
A1  - Hahn, J.
A1  - Harris, J.
A1  - Heinzelmann, G.
A1  - Henri, G.
A1  - Hermann, G.
A1  - Hervet, O.
A1  - Hillert, A.
A1  - Hinton, James Anthony
A1  - Hofmann, W.
A1  - Hofverberg, P.
A1  - Holler, M.
A1  - Horns, Dieter
A1  - Jacholkowska, A.
A1  - Jahn, C.
A1  - Jamrozy, M.
A1  - Janiak, M.
A1  - Jankowsky, F.
A1  - Jung, I.
A1  - Kastendieck, M. A.
A1  - Katarzynski, K.
A1  - Katz, U.
A1  - Kaufmann, S.
A1  - Khelifi, B.
A1  - Kieffer, M.
A1  - Klepser, S.
A1  - Klochkov, D.
A1  - Kluzniak, W.
A1  - Kneiske, T.
A1  - Kolitzus, D.
A1  - Komin, Nu.
A1  - Kosack, K.
A1  - Krakau, S.
A1  - Krayzel, F.
A1  - Krueger, P. P.
A1  - Laffon, H.
A1  - Lamanna, G.
A1  - Lefaucheur, J.
A1  - Lemiere, A.
A1  - Lemoine-Goumard, M.
A1  - Lenain, J. -P.
A1  - Lennarz, D.
A1  - Lohse, T.
A1  - Lopatin, A.
A1  - Lu, C. -C.
A1  - Marandon, V.
A1  - Marcowith, Alexandre
A1  - Marx, R.
A1  - Maurin, G.
A1  - Maxted, N.
A1  - Mayer, M.
A1  - McComb, T. J. L.
A1  - Mehault, J.
A1  - Meintjes, P. J.
A1  - Menzler, U.
A1  - Meyer, M.
A1  - Moderski, R.
A1  - Mohamed, M.
A1  - Moulin, Emmanuel
A1  - Murach, T.
A1  - Naumann, C. L.
A1  - de Naurois, M.
A1  - Niemiec, J.
A1  - Nolan, S. J.
A1  - Oakes, L.
A1  - Ohm, S.
A1  - Wilhelmi, E. de Ona
A1  - Opitz, B.
A1  - Ostrowski, M.
A1  - Oya, I.
A1  - Panter, M.
A1  - Parsons, R. D.
A1  - Arribas, M. Paz
A1  - Pekeur, N. W.
A1  - Pelletier, G.
A1  - Perez, J.
A1  - Petrucci, P. -O.
A1  - Peyaud, B.
A1  - Pita, S.
A1  - Poon, H.
A1  - Puehlhofer, G.
A1  - Punch, M.
A1  - Quirrenbach, A.
A1  - Raab, S.
A1  - Raue, M.
A1  - Reimer, A.
A1  - Reimer, O.
A1  - Renaud, M.
A1  - de los Reyes, R.
A1  - Rieger, F.
A1  - Rob, L.
A1  - Romoli, C.
A1  - Rosier-Lees, S.
A1  - Rowell, G.
A1  - Rudak, B.
A1  - Rulten, C. B.
A1  - Sahakian, V.
A1  - Sanchez, David M.
A1  - Santangelo, Andrea
A1  - Schlickeiser, R.
A1  - Schuessler, F.
A1  - Schulz, A.
A1  - Schwanke, U.
A1  - Schwarzburg, S.
A1  - Schwemmer, S.
A1  - Sol, H.
A1  - Spengler, G.
A1  - Spies, F.
A1  - Stawarz, L.
A1  - Steenkamp, R.
A1  - Stegmann, Christian
A1  - Stinzing, F.
A1  - Stycz, Kornelia
A1  - Sushch, Iurii
A1  - Szostek, A.
A1  - Tavernet, J. -P.
A1  - Tavernier, T.
A1  - Taylor, A. M.
A1  - Terrier, R.
A1  - Tluczykont, M.
A1  - Trichard, C.
A1  - Valerius, K.
A1  - van Eldik, C.
A1  - van Soelen, B.
A1  - Vasileiadis, G.
A1  - Venter, C.
A1  - Viana, A.
A1  - Vincent, P.
A1  - Voelk, H. J.
A1  - Volpe, F.
A1  - Vorster, M.
A1  - Vuillaume, T.
A1  - Wagner, S. J.
A1  - Wagner, P.
A1  - Ward, M.
A1  - Weidinger, M.
A1  - Weitzel, Q.
A1  - White, R.
A1  - Wierzcholska, A.
A1  - Willmann, P.
A1  - Woernlein, A.
A1  - Wouters, D.
A1  - Zabalza, V.
A1  - Zacharias, M.
A1  - Zajczyk, A.
A1  - Zdziarski, A. A.
A1  - Zech, Alraune
A1  - Zechlin, H. -S.
T1  - HESS observations of the Crab during its March 2013 GeV gamma-ray flare
JF  - Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal
N2  - Context. On March 4, 2013 the Fermi-EAT and AGILE reported a flare from the direction of the Crab nebula in which the high-energy (HE; E > 100 MeV) flux was six times above its quiescent level. Simultaneous observations in other energy bands give us hints about the emission processes during the flare episode and the physics of pulsar wind nebulae in general.
 Aims. We search for variability in the emission of the Crab nebula at very-high energies (VHF,; E > 100 GeV), using contemporaneous data taken with the H.E.S.S. array of Cherenkov telescopes.
 Methods. Observational data taken with the H.E.S.S. instrument on five consecutive days during the flare were analysed for the flux and spectral shape of the emission from the Crab nebula. Night-wise light curves are presented with energy thresholds of 1 TeV and 5 TeV.
 Results. The observations conducted with H.E.S.S. on March 6 to March 10, 2013 show no significant changes in the flux. They limit the variation in the integral flux above 1 TeV to less than 63% and the integral flux above 5 TeV to less than 78% at a 95% confidence level.
KW  - gamma rays: ISM
KW  - ISM: individual objects: Crab nebula
KW  - radiation mechanisms: non-thermal
KW  - relativistic processes
Y1  - 2014
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201323013
SN  - 0004-6361
SN  - 1432-0746
VL  - 562
PB  - EDP Sciences
CY  - Les Ulis
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - De Becker, M.
A1  - del Valle, Maria Victoria
A1  - Romero, G. E.
A1  - Peri, C. S.
A1  - Benaglia, P.
T1  - X- ray study of bow shocks in runaway stars
JF  - Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
N2  - Massive runaway stars produce bow shocks through the interaction of their winds with the interstellar medium, with the prospect for particle acceleration by the shocks. These objects are consequently candidates for non-thermal emission. Our aim is to investigate the X-ray emission from these sources. We observed with XMM-Newton a sample of five bow shock runaways, which constitutes a significant improvement of the sample of bow shock runaways studied in X-rays so far. A careful analysis of the data did not reveal any X-ray emission related to the bow shocks. However, X-ray emission from the stars is detected, in agreement with the expected thermal emission from stellar winds. On the basis of background measurements we derive conservative upper limits between 0.3 and 10 keV on the bow shocks emission. Using a simple radiation model, these limits together with radio upper limits allow us to constrain some of the main physical quantities involved in the non-thermal emission processes, such as the magnetic field strength and the amount of incident infrared photons. The reasons likely responsible for the non-detection of non-thermal radiation are discussed. Finally, using energy budget arguments, we investigate the detectability of inverse Compton X-rays in a more extended sample of catalogued runaway star bow shocks. From our analysis we conclude that a clear identification of non-thermal X-rays from massive runaway bow shocks requires one order of magnitude (or higher) sensitivity improvement with respect to present observatories.
KW  - acceleration of particles
KW  - radiation mechanisms: non-thermal
KW  - stars: earlytype
KW  - X-rays: stars
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stx1826
SN  - 0035-8711
SN  - 1365-2966
VL  - 471
SP  - 4452
EP  - 4464
PB  - Oxford Univ. Press
CY  - Oxford
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - del Valle, Maria Victoria
A1  - Müller, A. L.
A1  - Romero, G. E.
T1  - High-energy radiation from collisions of high-velocity clouds and the Galactic disc
JF  - Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
N2  - High-velocity clouds (HVCs) are interstellar clouds of atomic hydrogen that do not follow normal Galactic rotation and have velocities of a several hundred kilometres per second. A considerable number of these clouds are falling down towards the Galactic disc. HVCs form large and massive complexes, so if they collide with the disc a great amount of energy would be released into the interstellar medium. The cloud-disc interaction produces two shocks: one propagates through the cloud and the other through the disc. The properties of these shocks depend mainly on the cloud velocity and the disc-cloud density ratio. In this work, we study the conditions necessary for these shocks to accelerate particles by diffusive shock acceleration and we study the non-thermal radiation that is produced. We analyse particle acceleration in both the cloud and disc shocks. Solving a time-dependent two-dimensional transport equation for both relativistic electrons and protons, we obtain particle distributions and non-thermal spectral energy distributions. In a shocked cloud, significant synchrotron radio emission is produced along with soft gamma rays. In the case of acceleration in the shocked disc, the non-thermal radiation is stronger; the gamma rays, of leptonic origin, might be detectable with current instruments. A large number of protons are injected into the Galactic interstellar medium, and locally exceed the cosmic ray background. We conclude that under adequate conditions the contribution from HVC-disc collisions to the galactic population of relativistic particles and the associated extended non-thermal radiation might be important.
KW  - radiation mechanisms: non-thermal
KW  - ISM: clouds
KW  - cosmic rays
Y1  - 2018
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stx2984
SN  - 0035-8711
SN  - 1365-2966
VL  - 475
IS  - 4
SP  - 4298
EP  - 4308
PB  - Oxford Univ. Press
CY  - Oxford
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Nishikawa, Ken-Ichi
A1  - Frederiksen, J. T.
A1  - Nordlund, A.
A1  - Mizuno, Y.
A1  - Hardee, P. E.
A1  - Niemiec, J.
A1  - Gomez, J. L.
A1  - Dutan, I.
A1  - Meli, A.
A1  - Sol, H.
A1  - Pohl, Martin
A1  - Hartmann, D. H.
T1  - EVOLUTION OF GLOBAL RELATIVISTIC JETS: COLLIMATIONS AND EXPANSION WITH
kKHI AND THE WEIBEL INSTABILITY
JF  - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics
N2  - In the study of relativistic jets one of the key open questions is their interaction with the environment. Here. we study the initial evolution of both electron-proton (e(-) - p(+)) and electron-positron (e(+/-)) relativistic jets, focusing on their lateral interaction with ambient plasma. We follow the evolution of toroidal magnetic fields generated by both the kinetic Kelvin-Helmholtz and Mushroom instabilities. For an e(-) - p(+) jet, the induced magnetic field collimates the jet and electrons are perpendicularly accelerated. As the instabilities saturate and subsequently weaken, the magnetic polarity switches from clockwise to counterclockwise in the middle of the jet. For an e(+/-) jet, we find strong mixing of electrons and positrons with the ambient plasma, resulting in the creation of a bow shock. The merging of current filaments generates density inhomogeneities that. initiate a forward shock. Strong jet-ambient plasma mixing prevents a full development of the jet (on the scale studied), revealing evidence for both jet collimation and particle acceleration in the forming bow shock. Differences in the magnetic field structure generated by e(-) - p(+) and e(+/-) jets may contribute to the polarization properties of the observed emission in AGN jets and gamma-ray bursts.
KW  - acceleration of particles
KW  - plasmas
KW  - radiation mechanisms: non-thermal
KW  - relativistic processes
KW  - stars: jets
KW  - Sun: magnetic fields
Y1  - 2016
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3847/0004-637X/820/2/94
SN  - 0004-637X
SN  - 1538-4357
VL  - 820
PB  - IOP Publ. Ltd.
CY  - Bristol
ER  -