TY  - JOUR
A1  - Zhang, Haocheng
A1  - Chen, Xuhui
A1  - Boettcher, Markus
T1  - Synchrotron polarization in blazars
JF  - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics
N2  - We present a detailed analysis of time-and energy-dependent synchrotron polarization signatures in a shock-in-jet model for gamma-ray blazars. Our calculations employ a full three-dimensional radiation transfer code, assuming a helical magnetic field throughout the jet. The code considers synchrotron emission from an ordered magnetic field, and takes into account all light-travel-time and other relevant geometric effects, while the relevant synchrotron self-Compton and external Compton effects are handled with the two-dimensional Monte-Carlo/Fokker-Planck (MCFP) code. We consider several possible mechanisms through which a relativistic shock propagating through the jet may affect the jet plasma to produce a synchrotron and high-energy flare. Most plausibly, the shock is expected to lead to a compression of the magnetic field, increasing the toroidal field component and thereby changing the direction of the magnetic field in the region affected by the shock. We find that such a scenario leads to correlated synchrotron + synchrotron-self-Compton flaring, associated with substantial variability in the synchrotron polarization percentage and position angle. Most importantly, this scenario naturally explains large polarization angle rotations by greater than or similar to 180 degrees, as observed in connection with gamma-ray flares in several blazars, without the need for bent or helical jet trajectories or other nonaxisymmetric jet features.
KW  - galaxies: active
KW  - galaxies: jets
KW  - gamma rays: galaxies
KW  - radiation mechanisms: non-thermal
KW  - relativistic processes
Y1  - 2014
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/789/1/66
SN  - 0004-637X
SN  - 1538-4357
VL  - 789
IS  - 1
PB  - IOP Publ. Ltd.
CY  - Bristol
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Furniss, Amy
A1  - Worseck, Gabor
A1  - Fumagalli, Michele
A1  - Johnson, Caitlin A.
A1  - Williams, David A.
A1  - Pontrelli, P.
A1  - Prochaska, J. Xavier
T1  - Spectroscopic Redshift of the Gamma-Ray Blazar B2 1215+30 from Ly alpha Emission
JF  - The astronomical journal
N2  - We report on Cosmic Origin Spectrograph observations of the gamma-ray bright blazar B2 1215+30, collected in 2015 November. These observations allow for the confirmation of the source redshift from the detection of a Lyα emission feature at λ ~ 1374 Å. The emission feature places the source at a redshift of z = 0.1305 ± 0.003, confirming the source's ground-based spectral measurement. The gamma-ray emission of the source is discussed in the context of the source distance, required for the accurate reconstruction of the intrinsic gamma-ray emission taking the absorption by the extragalactic background light into account. The source distance is found to be low enough that the previously reported detection of an exceptional flaring event from B2 1215+30 in 2014 cannot be used to investigate opacity-specific spectral and variability characteristics introduced by possible ultra-high-energy cosmic-ray propagation.
KW  - galaxies:distances and redshifts
KW  - galaxies: individual (B2 1215+30)
KW  - gamma rays: galaxies
KW  - ultraviolet: galaxies
Y1  - 2019
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/aaf28b
SN  - 0004-6256
SN  - 1538-3881
VL  - 157
IS  - 2
PB  - IOP Publ. Ltd.
CY  - Bristol
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Arlen, T.
A1  - Aune, T.
A1  - Beilicke, M.
A1  - Benbow, W.
A1  - Bouvier, A.
A1  - Buckley, J. H.
A1  - Bugaev, V.
A1  - Cesarini, A.
A1  - Ciupik, L.
A1  - Connolly, M. P.
A1  - Cui, W.
A1  - Dickherber, R.
A1  - Dumm, J.
A1  - Errando, M.
A1  - Falcone, A.
A1  - Federici, S.
A1  - Feng, Q.
A1  - Finley, J. P.
A1  - Finnegan, G.
A1  - Fortson, L.
A1  - Furniss, A.
A1  - Galante, N.
A1  - Gall, D.
A1  - Griffin, S.
A1  - Grube, J.
A1  - Gyuk, G.
A1  - Hanna, D.
A1  - Holder, J.
A1  - Humensky, T. B.
A1  - Kaaret, P.
A1  - Karlsson, N.
A1  - Kertzman, M.
A1  - Khassen, Y.
A1  - Kieda, D.
A1  - Krawczynski, H.
A1  - Krennrich, F.
A1  - Maier, G.
A1  - Moriarty, P.
A1  - Mukherjee, R.
A1  - Nelson, T.
A1  - de Bhroithe, A. O'Faolain
A1  - Ong, R. A.
A1  - Orr, M.
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  - Saxon, D. B.
A1  - Schroedter, M.
A1  - Sembroski, G. H.
A1  - Staszak, D.
A1  - Telezhinsky, Igor O.
A1  - Tesic, G.
A1  - Theiling, M.
A1  - Tsurusaki, K.
A1  - Varlotta, A.
A1  - Vincent, S.
A1  - Wakely, S. P.
A1  - Weekes, T. C.
A1  - Weinstein, A.
A1  - Welsing, R.
A1  - Williams, D. A.
A1  - Zitzer, B.
A1  - Jorstad, S. G.
A1  - MacDonald, N. R.
A1  - Marscher, A. P.
A1  - Smith, P. S.
A1  - Walker, R. C.
A1  - Hovatta, T.
A1  - Richards, J.
A1  - Max-Moerbeck, W.
A1  - Readhead, A.
A1  - Lister, M. L.
A1  - Kovalev, Y. Y.
A1  - Pushkarev, A. B.
A1  - Gurwell, M. A.
A1  - Lahteenmaki, A.
A1  - Nieppola, E.
A1  - Tornikoski, M.
A1  - Jarvela, E.
T1  - Rapid TeV Gamma-Ray flaring of bl lacertae
JF  - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics
N2  - We report on the detection of a very rapid TeV gamma-ray flare from BL Lacertae on 2011 June 28 with the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS). The flaring activity was observed during a 34.6 minute exposure, when the integral flux above 200 GeV reached (3.4 +/- 0.6) x 10(-6) photons m(-2) s(-1), roughly 125% of the Crab Nebula flux measured by VERITAS. The light curve indicates that the observations missed the rising phase of the flare but covered a significant portion of the decaying phase. The exponential decay time was determined to be 13 +/- 4 minutes, making it one of the most rapid gamma-ray flares seen from a TeV blazar. The gamma-ray spectrum of BL Lacertae during the flare was soft, with a photon index of 3.6 +/- 0.4, which is in agreement with the measurement made previously by MAGIC in a lower flaring state. Contemporaneous radio observations of the source with the Very Long Baseline Array revealed the emergence of a new, superluminal component from the core around the time of the TeV gamma-ray flare, accompanied by changes in the optical polarization angle. Changes in flux also appear to have occurred at optical, UV, and GeV gamma-ray wavelengths at the time of the flare, although they are difficult to quantify precisely due to sparse coverage. A strong flare was seen at radio wavelengths roughly four months later, which might be related to the gamma-ray flaring activities. We discuss the implications of these multiwavelength results.
KW  - galaxies: active
KW  - galaxies: individual (BL Lacertae, VER J2202+422)
KW  - gamma rays: galaxies
Y1  - 2013
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/762/2/92
SN  - 0004-637X
VL  - 762
IS  - 2
PB  - IOP Publ. Ltd.
CY  - Bristol
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Archer, A.
A1  - Benbow, Wystan
A1  - Bird, Ralph
A1  - Brose, Robert
A1  - Buchovecky, M.
A1  - Bugaev, V
A1  - Cui, Wei
A1  - Danie, M. K.
A1  - Falcone, A.
A1  - Feng, Qi
A1  - Finley, John P.
A1  - Flinders, A.
A1  - Fortson, L.
A1  - Furniss, Amy
A1  - Gillanders, Gerard H.
A1  - Huttens, M.
A1  - Hanna, David
A1  - Hervet, O.
A1  - Holder, J.
A1  - Hughes, G.
A1  - Humensky, T. B.
A1  - Johnson, Caitlin A.
A1  - Kaaret, Philip
A1  - Kar, P.
A1  - Kelley-Hoskins, N.
A1  - Kieda, David
A1  - Krause, Maria
A1  - Krennrich, F.
A1  - Kumar, S.
A1  - Lang, M. J.
A1  - Lin, T. T. Y.
A1  - McArthur, S.
A1  - Moriarty, P.
A1  - Mukherjee, Reshmi
A1  - Nieto, Daniel
A1  - Ong, R. A.
A1  - Otte, A. N.
A1  - Park, Nahee
A1  - Petrashyk, A.
A1  - Pohl, Martin
A1  - Popkow, Alexis
A1  - Pueschel, Elisa
A1  - Quinn, J.
A1  - Ragan, K.
A1  - Reynold, P. T.
A1  - Richards, Gregory T.
A1  - Roache, E.
A1  - Rulten, C.
A1  - Sadeh, I
A1  - Sembroski, G. H.
A1  - Shahinyan, Karlen
A1  - Tyler, J.
A1  - Wakely, S. P.
A1  - Weiner, O. M.
A1  - Weinstein, A.
A1  - Wells, R. M.
A1  - Wilcox, P.
A1  - Wilhelm, Alina
A1  - Williams, David A.
A1  - Brisken, W. F.
A1  - Pontrelli, P.
T1  - HESS J1943+213
BT  - An extreme blazar shining through the galactic plane
JF  - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics
N2  - HESS J1943+213 is a very high energy (VHE; > 100 GeV) gamma-ray source in the direction of the Galactic plane. Studies exploring the classification of the source are converging toward its identification as an extreme synchrotron BL Lac object. Here we present 38 hr of VERITAS observations of HESS J1943+213 taken over 2 yr. The source is detected with a significance of similar to 20 standard deviations, showing a remarkably stable flux and spectrum in VHE gamma-rays. Multifrequency Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) observations of the source confirm the extended, jet-like structure previously found in the 1.6 GHz band with the European VLBI Network and detect this component in the 4.6 and 7.3 GHz bands. The radio spectral indices of the core and the jet and the level of polarization derived from the VLBA observations are in a range typical for blazars. Data from VERITAS, Fermi-LAT, Swift-XRT, the FLWO 48 ' telescope, and archival infrared and hard X-ray observations are used to construct and model the spectral energy distribution (SED) of the source with a synchrotron self-Compton model. The well-measured gamma-ray peak of the SED with VERITAS and Fermi-LAT provides constraining upper limits on the source redshift. Possible contribution of secondary gamma-rays from ultra-high-energy cosmic-ray-initiated electromagnetic cascades to the gamma-ray emission is explored, finding that only a segment of the VHE spectrum can be accommodated with this process. A variability search is performed across X-ray and gamma-ray bands. No statistically significant flux or spectral variability is detected.
KW  - astroparticle physics
KW  - BL Lacertae objects: individual (HESS J1943+213, VER J1943+213)
KW  - galaxies: active
KW  - galaxies: jets
KW  - galaxies: nuclei
KW  - gamma rays: galaxies
Y1  - 2018
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aacbd0
SN  - 0004-637X
SN  - 1538-4357
VL  - 862
IS  - 1
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  - Archambault, S.
A1  - Aune, T.
A1  - Behera, B.
A1  - Beilicke, M.
A1  - Benbow, W.
A1  - Berger, K.
A1  - Bird, R.
A1  - Biteau, Jonathan
A1  - Bugaev, V.
A1  - Byrum, K.
A1  - Cardenzana, J. V.
A1  - Cerruti, M.
A1  - Chen, Xuhui
A1  - Ciupik, L.
A1  - Connolly, M. P.
A1  - Cui, Wei
A1  - Dumm, J.
A1  - Errando, M.
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  - Gillanders, G. H.
A1  - Griffin, S.
A1  - Griffiths, S. T.
A1  - Grube, J.
A1  - Gyuk, G.
A1  - Hanna, D.
A1  - Holder, J.
A1  - Hughes, G.
A1  - Humensky, T. B.
A1  - Johnson, C. A.
A1  - Kaaret, P.
A1  - Kertzman, M.
A1  - Khassen, Y.
A1  - Kieda, D.
A1  - Krawczynski, H.
A1  - Krennrich, F.
A1  - Kumar, S.
A1  - Lang, M. J.
A1  - Madhavan, A. S.
A1  - Maier, G.
A1  - McCann, A.
A1  - Meagher, K.
A1  - Moriarty, P.
A1  - Mukherjee, R.
A1  - Nieto, Daniel
A1  - Ong, R. A.
A1  - Otte, A. N.
A1  - Park, N.
A1  - Pohl, Martin
A1  - Popkow, A.
A1  - Prokoph, H.
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  - Staszak, D.
A1  - Telezhinsky, Igor O.
A1  - Tucci, J. V.
A1  - Tyler, J.
A1  - Varlotta, A.
A1  - Vassiliev, V. V.
A1  - Vincent, S.
A1  - Wakely, S. P.
A1  - Weinstein, A.
A1  - Welsing, R.
A1  - Wilhelm, Alina
A1  - Williams, D. A.
A1  - Ackermann, Margit
A1  - Ajello, M.
A1  - Albert, A.
A1  - Baldini, L.
A1  - Bastieri, D.
A1  - Bellazzini, R.
A1  - Bissaldi, E.
A1  - Bregeon, Johan
A1  - Buehler, R.
A1  - Buson, S.
A1  - Caliandro, G. A.
A1  - Cameron, R. A.
A1  - Caraveo, P. A.
A1  - Cavazzuti, E.
A1  - Charles, E.
A1  - Chiang, J.
A1  - Ciprini, S.
A1  - Claus, R.
A1  - Cutini, S.
A1  - de Angelis, A.
A1  - de Palma, F.
A1  - Dermer, C. D.
A1  - Digel, S. W.
A1  - Di Venere, L.
A1  - Drell, P. S.
A1  - Favuzzi, C.
A1  - Franckowiak, A.
A1  - Fusco, P.
A1  - Gargano, F.
A1  - Gasparrini, D.
A1  - Giglietto, N.
A1  - Giordano, F.
A1  - Giroletti, M.
A1  - Grenier, I. A.
A1  - Guiriec, S.
A1  - Jogler, T.
A1  - Kuss, M.
A1  - Larsson, S.
A1  - Latronico, L.
A1  - Longo, F.
A1  - Loparco, F.
A1  - Lubrano, P.
A1  - Madejski, G. M.
A1  - Mayer, M.
A1  - Mazziotta, Mario Nicola
A1  - Michelson, P. F.
A1  - Mizuno, T.
A1  - Monzani, M. E.
A1  - Morselli, Aldo
A1  - Murgia, S.
A1  - Nuss, E.
A1  - Ohsugi, T.
A1  - Ormes, J. F.
A1  - Paneque, D.
A1  - Perkins, J. S.
A1  - Piron, F.
A1  - Pivato, G.
A1  - Raino, S.
A1  - Razzano, M.
A1  - Reimer, A.
A1  - Reimer, Olaf
A1  - Ritz, S.
A1  - Schaal, M.
A1  - Sgro, C.
A1  - Siskind, E. J.
A1  - Spinelli, P.
A1  - Takahashi, H.
A1  - Tibaldo, L.
A1  - Tinivella, M.
A1  - Troja, E.
A1  - Vianello, G.
A1  - Werner, M.
A1  - Wood, M.
T1  - Deep broadband observations of the distant gamma-ray blazar PKS 1424+240
JF  - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics ; Part 2, Letters
N2  - 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.
KW  - BL Lacertae objects: individual (PKS 1424+240)-cosmic background radiation
KW  - gamma rays: galaxies
Y1  - 2014
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/785/1/L16
SN  - 2041-8205
SN  - 2041-8213
VL  - 785
IS  - 1
PB  - IOP Publ. Ltd.
CY  - Bristol
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Archambault, S.
A1  - Arlen, T.
A1  - Aune, T.
A1  - Beilicke, M.
A1  - Benbow, W.
A1  - Bird, R.
A1  - Boettcher, Markus
A1  - Bouvier, A.
A1  - Buckley, J. H.
A1  - Bugaev, V.
A1  - Ciupik, L.
A1  - Collins-Hughes, E.
A1  - Connolly, M. P.
A1  - Cui, W.
A1  - Dickherber, R.
A1  - Dumm, J.
A1  - Errando, M.
A1  - Falcone, A.
A1  - Federici, Simone
A1  - Feng, Q.
A1  - Finley, J. P.
A1  - Fortson, L.
A1  - Furniss, A.
A1  - Galante, N.
A1  - Gall, D.
A1  - Garson, A. III.
A1  - Gillanders, G. H.
A1  - Griffin, S.
A1  - Grube, J.
A1  - Gusbar, C.
A1  - Gyuk, G.
A1  - Hanna, D.
A1  - Holder, J.
A1  - Hughes, G.
A1  - Kaaret, P.
A1  - Kertzman, M.
A1  - Khassen, Y.
A1  - Kieda, D.
A1  - Krawczynski, H.
A1  - Lamerato, A.
A1  - Lang, M. J.
A1  - Li, K.
A1  - Madhavan, A. S.
A1  - Maier, G.
A1  - Majumdar, P.
A1  - McArthur, S.
A1  - McCann, A.
A1  - Millis, J.
A1  - Moriarty, P.
A1  - Mukherjee, R.
A1  - Nieto, D.
A1  - Ong, R. A.
A1  - Orr, M.
A1  - Otte, A. N.
A1  - Park, N.
A1  - Perkins, J. S.
A1  - Pohl, Martin
A1  - Popkow, A.
A1  - Prokoph, H.
A1  - Quinn, J.
A1  - Ragan, K.
A1  - Reynolds, P. T.
A1  - Richards, G. T.
A1  - Roache, E.
A1  - Roustazadeh, P.
A1  - Saxon, D. B.
A1  - Sembroski, G. H.
A1  - Senturk, G. D.
A1  - Skole, C.
A1  - Staszak, D.
A1  - Telezhinsky, Igor O.
A1  - Tesic, G.
A1  - Theiling, M.
A1  - Varlotta, A.
A1  - Vassiliev, V. V.
A1  - Vincent, S.
A1  - Wakely, S. P.
A1  - Weinstein, A.
A1  - Welsing, R.
A1  - Williams, D. A.
A1  - Zitzer, B.
T1  - Test of models of the cosmic infrared background with multiwavelength  observations of the blazar 1ES 1218+30.4 IN 2009
JF  - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics
N2  - 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.
KW  - BL Lacertae objects: general
KW  - BL Lacertae objects: individual (1ES1218+30.4)
KW  - cosmic background radiation
KW  - diffuse radiation
KW  - galaxies: jets
KW  - gamma rays: galaxies
Y1  - 2014
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/788/2/158
SN  - 0004-637X
SN  - 1538-4357
VL  - 788
IS  - 2
PB  - IOP Publ. Ltd.
CY  - Bristol
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Archambault, S.
A1  - Arlen, T.
A1  - Aune, T.
A1  - Behera, B.
A1  - Beilicke, M.
A1  - Benbow, W.
A1  - Bird, R.
A1  - Bouvier, A.
A1  - Buckley, J. H.
A1  - Bugaev, V.
A1  - Byrum, K.
A1  - Cesarini, A.
A1  - Ciupik, L.
A1  - Connolly, M. P.
A1  - Cui, W.
A1  - Errando, M.
A1  - Falcone, A.
A1  - Federici, Simone
A1  - Feng, Q.
A1  - Finley, J. P.
A1  - Fortson, L.
A1  - Furniss, A.
A1  - Galante, N.
A1  - Gall, D.
A1  - Gillanders, G. H.
A1  - Griffin, S.
A1  - Grube, J.
A1  - Gyuk, G.
A1  - Hanna, D.
A1  - Holder, J.
A1  - Hughes, G.
A1  - Humensky, T. B.
A1  - Kaaret, P.
A1  - Kertzman, M.
A1  - Khassen, Y.
A1  - Kieda, D.
A1  - Krawczynski, H.
A1  - Krennrich, F.
A1  - Kumar, S.
A1  - Lang, M. J.
A1  - Madhavan, A. S.
A1  - Maier, G.
A1  - Majumdar, P.
A1  - McArthur, S.
A1  - McCann, A.
A1  - Millis, J.
A1  - Moriarty, P.
A1  - Mukherjee, R.
A1  - de Bhroithe, A. O'Faolain
A1  - Ong, R. A.
A1  - Otte, A. N.
A1  - Park, N.
A1  - Perkins, J. S.
A1  - Pohl, Martin
A1  - Popkow, A.
A1  - Prokoph, H.
A1  - Quinn, J.
A1  - Ragan, K.
A1  - Reyes, L. C.
A1  - Reynolds, P. T.
A1  - Richards, G. T.
A1  - Roache, E.
A1  - Saxon, D. B.
A1  - Sembroski, G. H.
A1  - Smith, A. W.
A1  - Staszak, D.
A1  - Telezhinsky, Igor O.
A1  - Theiling, M.
A1  - Varlotta, A.
A1  - Vassiliev, V. V.
A1  - Vincent, S.
A1  - Wakely, S. P.
A1  - Weekes, T. C.
A1  - Weinstein, A.
A1  - Welsing, R.
A1  - Williams, D. A.
A1  - Zitzer, B.
A1  - Boettcher, Markus
A1  - Fegan, S. J.
A1  - Fortin, P.
A1  - Halpern, J. P.
A1  - Kovalev, Y. Y.
A1  - Lister, M. L.
A1  - Liu, J.
A1  - Pushkarev, A. B.
A1  - Smith, P. S.
T1  - Discovery of a new tev Gamma-Ray source - VER J0521+211
JF  - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics
N2  - 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.
KW  - BL Lacertae objects: individual (VER J0521+211)
KW  - gamma rays: galaxies
Y1  - 2013
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/776/2/69
SN  - 0004-637X
SN  - 1538-4357
VL  - 776
IS  - 2
PB  - IOP Publ. Ltd.
CY  - Bristol
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Archambault, S.
A1  - Archer, A.
A1  - Benbow, W.
A1  - Buchovecky, M.
A1  - Bugaev, V.
A1  - Cerruti, M.
A1  - Connolly, M. P.
A1  - Cui, W.
A1  - Falcone, A.
A1  - Alonso, M. Fernandez
A1  - Finley, J. P.
A1  - Fleischhack, H.
A1  - Fortson, L.
A1  - Furniss, A.
A1  - Griffin, S.
A1  - Hutten, M.
A1  - Hervet, O.
A1  - Holder, J.
A1  - Humensky, T. B.
A1  - Johnson, C. A.
A1  - Kaaret, P.
A1  - Kar, P.
A1  - Kieda, D.
A1  - Krause, M.
A1  - Krennrich, F.
A1  - Lang, M. J.
A1  - Lin, T. T. Y.
A1  - Maier, G.
A1  - McArthur, S.
A1  - Moriarty, P.
A1  - Nieto, D.
A1  - Ong, R. A.
A1  - Otte, A. N.
A1  - Pohl, M.
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  - Sadeh, I.
A1  - Shahinyan, K.
A1  - Staszak, D.
A1  - Telezhinsky, Igor O.
A1  - Tyler, J.
A1  - Wakely, S. P.
A1  - Weinstein, A.
A1  - Weisgarber, T.
A1  - Wilcox, P.
A1  - Wilhelm, Alina
A1  - Williams, D. A.
A1  - Zitzer, B.
T1  - Search for Magnetically Broadened Cascade Emission from Blazars with VERITAS
JF  - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics
N2  - We present a search for magnetically broadened gamma-ray emission around active galactic nuclei (AGNs), using VERITAS observations of seven hard-spectrum blazars. A cascade process occurs when multi-TeV gamma-rays from an AGN interact with extragalactic background light (EBL) photons to produce electron-positron pairs, which then interact with cosmic microwave background photons via inverse-Compton scattering to produce gamma-rays. Due to the deflection of the electron- positron pairs, a non-zero intergalactic magnetic field (IGMF) would potentially produce detectable effects on the angular distribution of the cascade emission. In particular, an angular broadening compared to the unscattered emission could occur. Through non-detection of angularly broadened emission from 1ES 1218 vertical bar 304, the source with the largest predicted cascade fraction, we exclude a range of IGMF strengths around 10(-14) G at the 95% confidence level. The extent of the exclusion range varies with the assumptions made about the intrinsic spectrum of 1ES. 1218+304 and the EBL model used in the simulation of the cascade process. All of the sources are used to set limits on the flux due to extended emission.
KW  - BL Lacertae objects: general
KW  - galaxies: active
KW  - gamma rays: galaxies
KW  - magnetic fields
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/835/2/288
SN  - 0004-637X
SN  - 1538-4357
VL  - 835
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  -