TY - JOUR A1 - Orienti, M. A1 - Finke, J. A1 - Raiteri, C. M. A1 - Hovatta, T. A1 - Larsson, J. A1 - Max-Moerbeck, W. A1 - Perkins, J. A1 - Readhead, A. C. S. A1 - Richards, J. L. A1 - Beilicke, M. A1 - Benbow, W. A1 - Berger, K. A1 - Bird, R. A1 - Bugaev, V. A1 - Cardenzana, J. V. A1 - Cerruti, M. A1 - Chen, Xuhui A1 - Ciupik, L. A1 - Dickinson, H. J. A1 - Eisch, J. D. A1 - Errando, M. A1 - Falcone, A. A1 - Finley, J. P. A1 - Fleischhack, H. A1 - Fortin, P. A1 - Fortson, L. A1 - Furniss, A. A1 - Gerard, L. A1 - Gillanders, G. H. A1 - Griffiths, S. T. A1 - Grube, J. A1 - Gyuk, G. A1 - Hakansson, Nils A1 - Holder, J. A1 - Humensky, T. B. A1 - Kar, P. A1 - Kertzman, M. A1 - Khassen, Y. A1 - Kieda, D. A1 - Krennrich, F. A1 - Kumar, S. A1 - Lang, M. J. A1 - Maier, G. A1 - McCann, A. A1 - Meagher, K. A1 - Moriarty, P. A1 - Mukherjee, R. A1 - Nieto, D. A1 - Ong, R. A. A1 - Otte, A. N. A1 - Pohl, Manuela A1 - Popkow, A. A1 - Prokoph, H. A1 - Pueschel, Elisa A1 - Quinn, J. A1 - Ragan, K. A1 - Reynolds, P. T. A1 - Richards, G. T. A1 - Roache, E. A1 - Rousselle, J. A1 - Santander, M. A1 - Sembroski, G. H. A1 - Smith, A. W. A1 - Staszak, D. A1 - Telezhinsky, Igor O. A1 - Tucci, J. V. A1 - Tyler, J. A1 - Varlotta, A. A1 - Vassiliev, V. V. A1 - Wakely, S. P. A1 - Weinstein, A. A1 - Welsing, R. A1 - Williams, D. A. A1 - Zitzer, B. T1 - The most powerful flaring activity from the NLSyl PMN J0948+0022 JF - Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society N2 - We report on multifrequency observations performed during 2012 December-2013 August of the first narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy detected in gamma-rays, PMN J0948+0022 (z = 0.5846). A y -ray flare was observed by the Large Area Telescope on board Fermi during 2012 December-2013 January, reaching a daily peak flux in the 0.1-100 GeV energy range of (155 31) x 10 8 ph cm(-2) S-1 on 2013 January 1, corresponding to an apparent isotropic luminosity of similar to 1.5 x 1048 erg s(-1). The y -ray flaring period triggered Swift and Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) observations in addition to radio and optical monitoring by Owens Valley Radio Observatory, Monitoring Of Jets in Active galactic nuclei with VLBA Experiments, and Catalina Real-time Transient Survey. A strong flare was observed in optical, UV, and X-rays on 2012 December 30, quasi-simultaneously to the y -ray flare, reaching a record flux for this source from optical to y gamma-rays. VERITAS observations at very high energy (E > 100 GeV) during 2013 January 6-17 resulted in an upper limit of F>0.2 Trev < 4.0 x 10(-12) ph cm(-2) s(-1). We compared the spectral energy distribution (SED) of the flaring state in 2013 January with that of an intermediate state observed in 2011. The two SEDs, modelled as synchrotron emission and an external Compton scattering of seed photons from a dust torus, can be modelled by changing both the electron distribution parameters and the magnetic field. KW - galaxies: active-galaxies: individual: PMN J0948+0022 KW - galaxies: nuclei KW - galaxies: Seyfert KW - gamma-rays: general Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stu2251 SN - 0035-8711 SN - 1365-2966 VL - 446 IS - 3 SP - 2456 EP - 2467 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Benbow, W. A1 - Bird, R. A1 - Brill, A. A1 - Brose, Robert A1 - Chromey, A. J. A1 - Daniel, M. K. A1 - Feng, Q. A1 - Finley, J. P. A1 - Fortson, L. A1 - Furniss, A. A1 - Gillanders, G. H. A1 - Giuri, C. A1 - Gueta, O. A1 - Hanna, D. A1 - Halpern, J. P. A1 - Hassan, Tarek A1 - Holder, J. A1 - Hughes, G. A1 - Humensky, T. B. A1 - Joyce, Amy M. A1 - Kaaret, P. A1 - Kar, P. A1 - Kelley-Hoskins, N. A1 - Kertzman, M. A1 - Kieda, D. A1 - Krause, M. A1 - Lang, M. J. A1 - Lin, T. T. Y. A1 - Maier, Gernot A1 - Matthews, N. A1 - Moriarty, P. A1 - Mukherjee, R. A1 - Nieto, D. A1 - Nievas-Rosillos, M. A1 - Ong, R. A. A1 - Park, N. A1 - Petrashyk, A. A1 - Pohl, Martin A1 - Pueschel, Elisa A1 - Quinn, John A1 - Ragan, K. A1 - Reynolds, P. T. A1 - Richards, G. T. A1 - Roache, E. A1 - Rulten, C. A1 - Sadeh, Iftach A1 - Santander, M. A1 - Sembroski, G. H. A1 - Shahinyan, K. A1 - Sushch, Iurii A1 - Wakely, S. P. A1 - Wells, R. M. A1 - Wilcox, P. A1 - Wilhelm, Alina A1 - Williams, David A. A1 - Williamson, T. J. T1 - Direct measurement of stellar angular diameters by the VERITAS Cherenkov telescopes JF - Nature astronomy N2 - The angular size of a star is a critical factor in determining its basic properties1. Direct measurement of stellar angular diameters is difficult: at interstellar distances stars are generally too small to resolve by any individual imaging telescope. This fundamental limitation can be overcome by studying the diffraction pattern in the shadow cast when an asteroid occults a star2, but only when the photometric uncertainty is smaller than the noise added by atmospheric scintillation3. Atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes used for particle astrophysics observations have not generally been exploited for optical astronomy due to the modest optical quality of the mirror surface. However, their large mirror area makes them well suited for such high-time-resolution precision photometry measurements4. Here we report two occultations of stars observed by the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS)5 Cherenkov telescopes with millisecond sampling, from which we are able to provide a direct measurement of the occulted stars’ angular diameter at the ≤0.1 mas scale. This is a resolution never achieved before with optical measurements and represents an order of magnitude improvement over the equivalent lunar occultation method6. We compare the resulting stellar radius with empirically derived estimates from temperature and brightness measurements, confirming the latter can be biased for stars with ambiguous stellar classifications. Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-019-0741-z SN - 2397-3366 VL - 3 IS - 6 SP - 511 EP - 516 PB - Nature Publ. Group CY - London 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 - Benbow, Wystan A1 - Bird, Ralph A1 - Brose, Robert A1 - Buchovecky, M. A1 - Buckley, J. H. A1 - Chromey, A. J. A1 - Cui, Wei A1 - Falcone, A. A1 - Feng, Qi A1 - Finley, J. P. A1 - Fortson, Lucy A1 - Furniss, Amy A1 - Gent, A. A1 - Gueta, O. A1 - Hanna, David A1 - Hassan, T. A1 - Hervet, Olivier 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 - Kertzman, M. A1 - Kieda, David A1 - Krennrich, F. A1 - Kumar, S. A1 - Lang, M. J. A1 - Lin, T. T. Y. A1 - McCann, A. A1 - Moriarty, P. A1 - Mukherjee, Reshmi A1 - Ong, R. A. A1 - Otte, Adam Nepomuk A1 - Pandel, D. A1 - Park, N. A1 - Petrashyk, A. A1 - Pohl, Martin A1 - Pueschel, Elisa A1 - Quinn, J. A1 - Ragan, K. A1 - Richards, Gregory T. A1 - Roache, E. A1 - Sadeh, I A1 - Santander, Marcos A1 - Scott, S. S. A1 - Sembroski, G. H. A1 - Shahinyan, Karlen A1 - Sushch, Iurii A1 - Tyler, J. A1 - Wakely, S. P. A1 - Weinstein, A. A1 - Wells, R. M. A1 - Wilcox, P. A1 - Wilhelm, Alina A1 - Williams, D. A. A1 - Williamson, T. J. A1 - Zitzer, B. T1 - A Search for Pulsed Very High-energy Gamma-Rays from 13 Young Pulsars in Archival VERITAS Data JF - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics N2 - We conduct a search for periodic emission in the very high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray band (E > 100 GeV) from a total of 13 pulsars in an archival VERITAS data set with a total exposure of over 450 hr. The set of pulsars includes many of the brightest young gamma-ray pulsars visible in the Northern Hemisphere. The data analysis resulted in nondetections of pulsed VHE gamma-rays from each pulsar. Upper limits on a potential VHE gamma-ray flux are derived at the 95% confidence level above three energy thresholds using two methods. These are the first such searches for pulsed VHE emission from each of the pulsars, and the obtained limits constrain a possible flux component manifesting at VHEs as is seen for the Crab pulsar. KW - gamma rays: general KW - pulsars: general KW - stars: neutron Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab14f4 SN - 0004-637X SN - 1538-4357 VL - 876 IS - 2 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Archer, A. A1 - Benbow, W. A1 - Bird, R. A1 - Buchovecky, M. A1 - Buckley, J. H. A1 - Bugaev, V. A1 - Byrum, K. A1 - Cardenzana, J. V. A1 - Cerruti, M. A1 - Chen, Xuhui A1 - Ciupik, L. A1 - Collins-Hughes, E. A1 - Connolly, M. P. A1 - Eisch, J. D. A1 - Falcone, A. A1 - Feng, Q. A1 - Finley, J. P. A1 - Fleischhack, H. A1 - Flinders, A. A1 - Fortson, L. A1 - Furniss, A. A1 - Gillanders, G. H. A1 - Griffin, S. A1 - Grube, J. A1 - Gyuk, G. A1 - Hakansson, Nils A1 - Hanna, D. A1 - Holder, J. A1 - Humensky, T. B. A1 - Huetten, M. 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 - McArthur, S. A1 - McCann, A. A1 - Meagher, K. A1 - Millis, J. A1 - Moriarty, P. A1 - Mukherjee, R. A1 - Nieto, D. A1 - Ong, R. A. A1 - Park, N. A1 - Pelassa, V. A1 - Pohl, Martin A1 - Popkow, A. A1 - Pueschel, Elisa A1 - Quinn, J. A1 - Ragan, K. A1 - Ratliff, G. A1 - Reynolds, P. T. A1 - Richards, G. T. A1 - Roache, E. A1 - Rousselle, J. 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 - Vassiliev, V. V. A1 - Wakely, S. P. A1 - Weiner, O. M. A1 - Weinstein, A. A1 - Wilhelm, Alina A1 - Williams, D. A. A1 - Zitzer, B. A1 - Yusef-Zadeh, F. T1 - TEV GAMMA-RAY OBSERVATIONS OF THE GALACTIC CENTER RIDGE BY VERITAS JF - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics N2 - 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. KW - Galaxy: center KW - gamma rays: general KW - supernovae: individual (G0.9+0.1) Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3847/0004-637X/821/2/129 SN - 0004-637X SN - 1538-4357 VL - 821 SP - 162 EP - 167 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Archer, A. A1 - Benbow, W. A1 - Bird, R. A1 - Brose, Robert A1 - Buchovecky, M. A1 - Buckley, J. H. A1 - Bugaev, V. A1 - Connolly, M. P. A1 - Cui, W. A1 - Daniel, M. K. A1 - Feng, Q. A1 - Finley, J. P. A1 - Fortson, L. A1 - Furniss, A. A1 - Gillanders, G. A1 - Huetten, M. A1 - Hanna, D. A1 - Hervet, O. A1 - Holder, J. A1 - Hughes, G. 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 - Lin, T. T. Y. A1 - Maier, G. A1 - McArthur, S. A1 - Moriarty, P. A1 - Mukherjee, R. A1 - Ong, R. A. A1 - Otte, A. N. A1 - Petrashyk, A. A1 - Pohl, M. A1 - Pueschel, Elisa A1 - Quinn, J. A1 - Ragan, K. A1 - Reynolds, P. T. A1 - Richards, G. T. A1 - Roache, E. A1 - Rulten, C. A1 - Sadeh, I. A1 - Santander, M. A1 - Sembroski, G. H. A1 - Staszak, D. A1 - Sushch, I. A1 - Wakely, S. P. A1 - Wells, R. M. A1 - Wilcox, P. A1 - Wilhelm, Alina A1 - Williams, D. A. A1 - Williamson, T. J. A1 - Zitzer, B. T1 - Measurement of cosmic-ray electrons at TeV energies by VERITAS JF - Physical review : D, Particles, fields, gravitation, and cosmology N2 - Cosmic-ray electrons and positrons (CREs) at GeV-TeV energies are a unique probe of our local Galactic neighborhood. CREs lose energy rapidly via synchrotron radiation and inverse-Compton scattering processes while propagating within the Galaxy, and these losses limit their propagation distance. For electrons with TeV energies, the limit is on the order of a kiloparsec. Within that distance, there are only a few known astrophysical objects capable of accelerating electrons to such high energies. It is also possible that the CREs are the products of the annihilation or decay of heavy dark matter (DM) particles. VERITAS, an array of imaging air Cherenkov telescopes in southern Arizona, is primarily utilized for gamma-ray astronomy but also simultaneously collects CREs during all observations. We describe our methods of identifying CREs in VERITAS data and present an energy spectrum, extending from 300 GeV to 5 TeV, obtained from approximately 300 hours of observations. A single power-law fit is ruled out in VERITAS data. We find that the spectrum of CREs is consistent with a broken power law, with a break energy at 710 +/- 40(stat) +/- 140(syst) GeV. Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.98.062004 SN - 2470-0010 SN - 2470-0029 VL - 98 IS - 6 PB - American Physical Society CY - College Park 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 - Archer, A. A1 - Benbow, Wystan A1 - Bird, Ralph A1 - Bourbeau, E. A1 - Buchovecky, M. A1 - Buckley, J. H. A1 - Bugaev, V. A1 - Cerruti, M. A1 - Connolly, M. P. A1 - Cui, W. A1 - Dwarkadas, Vikram V. A1 - Errando, M. A1 - Falcone, A. A1 - Feng, Q. A1 - Finley, J. P. A1 - Fleischhack, H. A1 - Fortson, L. A1 - Furniss, A. A1 - Griffin, S. A1 - Huetten, M. A1 - Hanna, D. A1 - Holder, J. A1 - Johnson, C. A. A1 - Kaaret, P. A1 - Kar, P. A1 - Kelley-Hoskins, N. A1 - Kertzman, M. A1 - Kieda, D. A1 - Krause, M. A1 - Kumar, S. A1 - Lang, M. J. A1 - Maier, G. A1 - McArthur, S. A1 - McCann, A. A1 - Moriarty, P. A1 - Mukherjee, R. A1 - Nieto, D. A1 - Ong, R. A. A1 - Otte, A. N. A1 - Park, Nahee 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 - Sadeh, I. A1 - Santander, M. A1 - Sembroski, G. H. A1 - Shahinyan, K. A1 - Slane, P. A1 - Staszak, D. A1 - Telezhinsky, Igor O. A1 - Trepanier, S. 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 - Gamma-ray Observations of Tycho's Supernova Remnant with VERITAS and Fermi JF - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics KW - material KW - data behind figure Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/836/1/23 SN - 0004-637X SN - 1538-4357 VL - 836 IS - 1 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, Ralph A1 - Bourbeau, E. A1 - Bouvier, A. A1 - Buchovecky, M. A1 - Bugaev, V. A1 - Cardenzana, J. V. A1 - Cerruti, M. A1 - Ciupik, L. A1 - Connolly, M. P. A1 - Cui, W. A1 - Daniel, M. K. A1 - Errando, M. A1 - Falcone, A. A1 - Feng, Q. A1 - Finley, J. P. A1 - Fleischhack, H. A1 - Fortson, L. A1 - Furniss, A. A1 - Gillanders, G. H. A1 - Griffin, S. A1 - Hanna, D. A1 - Hervet, O. A1 - Holder, J. A1 - Hughes, G. A1 - Humensky, T. B. A1 - Hutten, M. A1 - Johnson, C. A. A1 - Kaaret, P. A1 - Kar, P. A1 - Kertzman, M. A1 - Kieda, D. A1 - Krause, M. A1 - Lang, M. J. A1 - Lin, T. T. Y. A1 - Maier, G. A1 - McArthur, S. A1 - Moriarty, P. A1 - Mukherjee, R. A1 - Nieto, D. A1 - Ong, R. A. A1 - Otte, A. N. A1 - Park, N. 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 - Rulten, C. A1 - Sadeh, I. A1 - Sembroski, G. H. A1 - Shahinyan, K. A1 - Staszak, D. A1 - Telezhinsky, Igor O. A1 - Trepanier, S. A1 - Wakely, S. P. A1 - Weinstein, A. A1 - Wilcox, P. A1 - Williams, D. A. A1 - Zitzer, B. T1 - Gamma-ray observations under bright moonlight with VERITAS JF - Astroparticle physics N2 - Imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs) are equipped with sensitive photomultiplier tube (PMT) cameras. Exposure to high levels of background illumination degrades the efficiency of and potentially destroys these photo-detectors over time, so IACTs cannot be operated in the same configuration in the presence of bright moonlight as under dark skies. Since September 2012, observations have been carried out with the VERITAS IACTs under bright moonlight (defined as about three times the night-sky-background (NSB) of a dark extragalactic field, typically occurring when Moon illumination > 35%) in two observing modes, firstly by reducing the voltage applied to the PMTs and, secondly, with the addition of ultra-violet (UV) bandpass filters to the cameras. This has allowed observations at up to about 30 times previous NSB levels (around 80% Moon illumination), resulting in 30% more observing time between the two modes over the course of a year. These additional observations have already allowed for the detection of a flare from the 1ES 1727 + 502 and for an observing program targeting a measurement of the cosmic-ray positron fraction. We provide details of these new observing modes and their performance relative to the standard VERITAS observations. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. KW - Instrumentation KW - Moonlight KW - Observing methods KW - VERITAS KW - IACT Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.astropartphys.2017.03.001 SN - 0927-6505 SN - 1873-2852 VL - 91 SP - 34 EP - 43 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Archambault, S. A1 - Archer, A. A1 - Benbow, W. A1 - Bird, R. A1 - Bourbeau, E. A1 - Brantseg, T. A1 - Buchovecky, M. A1 - Buckley, J. H. A1 - Bugaev, V. A1 - Byrum, K. A1 - Cerruti, M. A1 - Christiansen, J. L. A1 - Connolly, M. P. A1 - Cui, W. A1 - Daniel, M. K. A1 - Feng, Q. A1 - Finley, J. P. A1 - Fleischhack, H. A1 - Fortson, L. A1 - Furniss, A. A1 - Geringer-Sameth, A. A1 - Griffin, S. A1 - Grube, J. A1 - Hütten, M. A1 - Hakansson, N. A1 - Hanna, D. A1 - Hervet, O. A1 - Holder, J. A1 - Hughes, G. A1 - Hummensky, B. A1 - Johnson, C. A. A1 - Kaaret, P. A1 - Kar, P. A1 - Kelley-Hoskins, N. A1 - Kertzman, M. A1 - Kieda, D. A1 - Koushiappas, S. A1 - Krause, M. A1 - Krennrich, F. A1 - Lang, M. J. A1 - Lin, T. T. Y. A1 - McArthur, S. A1 - Moriarty, P. A1 - Mukherjee, R. A1 - Nieto, D. A1 - Ong, R. A. A1 - Otte, A. N. A1 - Park, 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 - Rulten, C. A1 - Sadeh, I. A1 - Santander, M. A1 - Sembroski, G. H. A1 - Shahinyan, K. A1 - Smith, A. W. A1 - Staszak, D. A1 - Telezhinsky, Igor O. A1 - Trepanier, S. A1 - Tucci, J. V. A1 - Tyler, J. A1 - Wakely, S. P. A1 - Weinstein, A. A1 - Wilcox, P. A1 - Williams, D. A. A1 - Zitzer, B. T1 - Dark matter constraints from a joint analysis of dwarf Spheroidal galaxy observations with VERITAS JF - Physical review : D, Particles, fields, gravitation, and cosmology N2 - We present constraints on the annihilation cross section of weakly interacting massive particles dark matter based on the joint statistical analysis of four dwarf galaxies with VERITAS. These results are derived from an optimized photon weighting statistical technique that improves on standard imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope (IACT) analyses by utilizing the spectral and spatial properties of individual photon events. We report on the results of similar to 230 hours of observations of five dwarf galaxies and the joint statistical analysis of four of the dwarf galaxies. We find no evidence of gamma-ray emission from any individual dwarf nor in the joint analysis. The derived upper limit on the dark matter annihilation cross section from the joint analysis is 1.35 x 10(-23) cm(3) s(-1) at 1 TeV for the bottom quark (b (b) over bar) final state, 2.85 x 10(-24) cm(3) s(-1) at 1 TeV for the tau lepton (tau+tau(-)) final state and 1.32 x 10-25 cm(3) s(-1) at 1 TeV for the gauge boson (gamma gamma) final state. Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.95.082001 SN - 2470-0010 SN - 2470-0029 VL - 95 IS - 8 PB - American Physical Society CY - College Park 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 - Archambault, S. A1 - Archer, A. A1 - Barnacka, Anna A1 - Behera, B. A1 - Beilicke, M. A1 - Benbow, W. A1 - Berger, K. A1 - Bird, R. A1 - Böttcher, Markus A1 - Buckley, J. H. A1 - Bugaev, V. A1 - Cardenzana, J. V. A1 - Cerruti, M. A1 - Chen, Xuhui A1 - Christiansen, J. L. A1 - Ciupik, L. A1 - Collins-Hughes, E. A1 - Connolly, M. P. A1 - Cui, W. A1 - Dickinson, H. J. A1 - Dumm, J. A1 - Eisch, J. D. 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 - Gillanders, G. H. A1 - Godambe, S. 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 - Madhavan, A. S. A1 - Maier, G. A1 - McArthur, S. A1 - McCann, A. A1 - Meagher, K. A1 - Millis, J. A1 - Moriarty, P. A1 - Nelson, T. A1 - Nieto, D. 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 - 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 - Sweeney, K. A1 - Telezhinsky, Igor O. A1 - Tucci, J. V. A1 - Tyler, J. A1 - Varlotta, A. A1 - Vassiliev, V. V. A1 - Wakely, S. P. A1 - Welsing, R. A1 - Wilhelm, Alina A1 - Williams, D. A. A1 - Zitzer, B. T1 - Discovery of very high energy gamma rays from 1ES 1440+122 JF - Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society KW - BL Lacertae objects: general KW - gamma-rays: general Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw1319 SN - 0035-8711 SN - 1365-2966 VL - 461 SP - 202 EP - 208 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Archambault, S. A1 - Archer, A. A1 - Aune, T. A1 - Barnacka, Anna A1 - Benbow, W. A1 - Bird, R. A1 - Buchovecky, M. A1 - Buckley, J. H. A1 - Bugaev, V. A1 - Byrum, K. A1 - Cardenzana, J. V. A1 - Cerruti, M. A1 - Chen, Xuhui A1 - Ciupik, L. A1 - Collins-Hughes, E. A1 - Connolly, M. P. A1 - Cui, W. A1 - Dickinson, H. J. A1 - Dumm, J. A1 - Eisch, J. D. A1 - Falcone, A. A1 - Feng, Q. A1 - Finley, J. P. A1 - Fleischhack, H. A1 - Flinders, A. 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 - Khassen, Y. 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 - Millis, J. A1 - Moriarty, P. A1 - Mukherjee, R. A1 - Nieto, D. A1 - Ong, R. A. A1 - Otte, A. N. A1 - Pandel, D. A1 - Park, N. A1 - Pelassa, V. 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 - Rousselle, J. A1 - Rulten, 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 - Wilhelm, Alina A1 - Williams, D. A. A1 - Zitzer, B. T1 - EXCEPTIONALLY BRIGHT TEV FLARES FROM THE BINARY LS I+61 degrees 303 JF - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics ; Part 2, Letters N2 - 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. KW - binaries: general KW - gamma-rays: general KW - stars: individual (LS I+61 degrees 303, VER J0240+612) KW - X-rays: binaries Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8205/817/1/L7 SN - 2041-8205 SN - 2041-8213 VL - 817 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Allen, C. A1 - Archambault, S. A1 - Archer, A. A1 - Benbow, W. A1 - Bird, R. A1 - Bourbeau, E. A1 - Brose, Robert A1 - Buchovecky, M. A1 - Buckley, J. H. A1 - Bugaev, V. A1 - Cardenzana, J. V. A1 - Cerruti, M. A1 - Chen, Xuhui A1 - Christiansen, J. L. A1 - Connolly, M. P. A1 - Cui, W. A1 - Daniel, M. K. A1 - Eisch, J. D. A1 - Falcone, Abe A1 - Feng, Q. A1 - Fernandez-Alonso, M. A1 - Finley, J. P. A1 - Fleischhack, H. A1 - Flinders, A. A1 - Fortson, L. A1 - Furniss, A. A1 - Gillanders, G. H. A1 - Griffin, S. A1 - Grube, J. A1 - Huetten, M. A1 - Hakansson, N. A1 - Hanna, D. A1 - Hervet, O. A1 - Holder, J. A1 - Hughes, G. 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 - Petrashyk, A. 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 - Rulten, C. A1 - Sadeh, I. A1 - Santander, Marcos A1 - Sembroski, G. H. A1 - Shahinyan, K. A1 - Telezhinsky, Igor O. A1 - Tucci, J. V. A1 - Tyler, J. A1 - Wakely, S. P. A1 - Weinstein, A. A1 - Wilhelm, Alina A1 - Williams, D. A. T1 - Very-High-Energy gamma-Ray Observations of the Blazar 1ES 2344+514 with VERITAS JF - Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society N2 - We present very-high-energy gamma-ray observations of the BL Lac object 1ES 2344+514 taken by the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System between 2007 and 2015. 1ES 2344+514 is detected with a statistical significance above the background of 20.8 sigma in 47.2 h (livetime) of observations, making this the most comprehensive very-high-energy study of 1ES 2344+514 to date. Using these observations, the temporal properties of 1ES 2344+514 are studied on short and long times-scales. We fit a constant-flux model to nightly and seasonally binned light curves and apply a fractional variability test to determine the stability of the source on different time-scales. We reject the constant-flux model for the 2007-2008 and 2014-2015 nightly binned light curves and for the long-term seasonally binned light curve at the > 3 sigma level. The spectra of the time-averaged emission before and after correction for attenuation by the extragalactic background light are obtained. The observed time-averaged spectrum above 200 GeV is satisfactorily fitted (x(2)/NDF = 7.89/6) by a power-law function with an index Gamma = 2.46 +/- 0.06(stat) +/- 0.20(sys) and extends to at least 8 TeV. The extragalactic-backgroundlight-deabsorbed spectrum is adequately fit (x(2)/NDF = 6.73/6) by a power-law function with an index Gamma = 2.15 +/- 0.06(stat) +/- 0.20(sys) while an F-test indicates that the power law with an exponential cut-off function provides a marginally better fit (x(2)/NDF = 2.56/5) at the 2.1 sigma level. The source location is found to be consistent with the published radio location and its spatial extent is consistent with a point source. KW - astroparticle physics KW - BL Lacertae objects: individual: 1ES 2344+514=VERJ2347+517 KW - gamma-rays: galaxies Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stx1756 SN - 0035-8711 SN - 1365-2966 VL - 471 SP - 2117 EP - 2123 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Aliu, E. A1 - Aune, T. A1 - Barnacka, Anna A1 - Beilicke, M. A1 - Benbow, W. A1 - Berger, K. A1 - Biteau, Jonathan A1 - Buckley, J. H. A1 - Bugaev, V. A1 - Byrum, K. A1 - Cardenzana, J. V. A1 - Cerruti, M. A1 - Chen, Xuhui A1 - Ciupik, L. A1 - Connaughton, V. A1 - Cui, W. A1 - Dickinson, H. J. A1 - Eisch, J. D. A1 - Errando, M. A1 - Falcone, A. A1 - Federici, Simone A1 - Feng, Q. A1 - Finley, J. P. A1 - Fleischhack, H. A1 - Fortin, P. 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 - Hakansson, Nils A1 - Hanna, D. A1 - Holder, J. A1 - Hughes, G. A1 - Humensky, T. B. A1 - Johnson, C. A. A1 - Kaaret, P. A1 - Kar, P. A1 - Kertzman, M. A1 - Khassen, Y. A1 - Kieda, D. A1 - Krawczynski, H. A1 - Krennrich, F. A1 - Lang, M. J. A1 - Madhavan, A. S. A1 - Maier, G. A1 - McArthur, S. A1 - McCann, A. A1 - Meagher, K. A1 - Millis, J. A1 - Moriarty, P. A1 - Mukherjee, R. A1 - Nieto, D. A1 - Ong, R. A. A1 - Otte, A. N. A1 - Park, N. A1 - Pohl, Martin 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 - Vassiliev, V. V. A1 - Vincent, S. A1 - Wakely, S. P. A1 - Weiner, O. M. A1 - Weinstein, A. A1 - Welsing, R. A1 - Wilhelm, Alina A1 - Williams, D. A. A1 - Zitzer, B. A1 - McEnery, J. E. A1 - Perkins, J. S. A1 - Veres, P. A1 - Zhu, S. T1 - Constraints on very high energy emission from GRB 130427A JF - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics ; Part 2, Letters N2 - Prompt emission from the very fluent and nearby (z = 0.34) gamma-ray burst GRB130427A was detected by several orbiting telescopes and by ground-based, wide-field-of-view optical transient monitors. Apart from the intensity and proximity of this GRB, it is exceptional due to the extremely long-lived high-energy (100 MeV to 100 GeV) gamma-ray emission, which was detected by the Large Area Telescope on the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope for similar to 70 ks after the initial burst. The persistent, hard-spectrum, high-energy emission suggests that the highest-energy gamma rays may have been produced via synchrotron self-Compton processes though there is also evidence that the high-energy emission may instead be an extension of the synchrotron spectrum. VERITAS, a ground-based imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope array, began follow-up observations of GRB130427A similar to 71 ks (similar to 20 hr) after the onset of the burst. The GRB was not detected with VERITAS; however, the high elevation of the observations, coupled with the low redshift of the GRB, make VERITAS a very sensitive probe of the emission from GRB130427A for E > 100 GeV. The non-detection and consequent upper limit derived place constraints on the synchrotron self-Compton model of high-energy gamma-ray emission from this burst. KW - gamma-ray burst: individual (GRB 130427A) Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/795/1/L3 SN - 2041-8205 SN - 2041-8213 VL - 795 IS - 1 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Aliu, E. A1 - Archer, A. A1 - Aune, T. A1 - Barnacka, Anna A1 - Behera, B. A1 - Beilicke, M. A1 - Benbow, W. A1 - Berger, K. A1 - Bird, R. A1 - Buckley, J. H. 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 - Dickinson, H. J. A1 - Dumm, J. A1 - Eisch, J. D. A1 - Errando, M. A1 - Falcone, A. A1 - Federici, Simone A1 - Feng, Q. A1 - Finley, J. P. A1 - Fortin, P. 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 - Hakansson, Nils A1 - Hanna, D. A1 - Holder, J. A1 - Hughes, G. A1 - Humensky, T. B. A1 - Johnson, C. A. A1 - Kaaret, P. A1 - Kar, 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. A1 - McArthur, S. A1 - McCann, A. A1 - Meagher, K. A1 - Millis, J. A1 - Moriarty, P. A1 - Nieto, Daniel 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 - 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 - Staszak, D. A1 - Telezhinsky, Igor O. A1 - Tucci, J. V. A1 - Tyler, J. A1 - Varlotta, A. A1 - Vassiliev, V. V. A1 - Wakely, S. P. A1 - Weinstein, A. A1 - Welsing, R. A1 - Wilhelm, Alina A1 - Williams, D. A. A1 - Zitzer, B. T1 - Veritas observations of the BL LAC OBJECT PG 1553+113 JF - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics N2 - 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%. KW - BL Lacertae objects: general Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/799/1/7 SN - 0004-637X SN - 1538-4357 VL - 799 IS - 1 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Aliu, E. A1 - Archambault, S. A1 - Arlen, T. A1 - Aune, T. A1 - Barnacka, Anna A1 - Beilicke, M. A1 - Benbow, W. A1 - Berger, K. A1 - Bird, R. A1 - Bouvier, A. A1 - Buckley, J. H. A1 - Bugaev, V. A1 - Cerruti, M. A1 - Chen, X. A1 - Ciupik, L. A1 - Collins-Hughes, E. A1 - Connolly, M. P. A1 - Cui, W. A1 - Dumm, J. A1 - Eisch, J. D. A1 - Falcone, A. A1 - Federici, S. A1 - Feng, Q. A1 - Finley, J. P. A1 - Fleischhack, H. A1 - Fortin, P. 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 - Hakansson, N. A1 - Hanna, D. A1 - Holder, J. A1 - Hughes, G. A1 - Hughes, Z. A1 - Humensky, T. B. A1 - Johnson, C. A. A1 - Kaaret, P. A1 - Kar, P. A1 - Kertzman, M. A1 - Khassen, Y. A1 - Kieda, D. A1 - Krawczynski, H. A1 - Krennrich, F. A1 - Lang, M. J. A1 - Madhavan, A. S. A1 - Majumdar, P. A1 - McArthur, S. A1 - McCann, A. A1 - Meagher, K. A1 - Millis, J. A1 - Moriarty, P. A1 - Mukherjee, R. A1 - Nelson, T. A1 - Nieto, D. A1 - Ong, R. A. A1 - Otte, A. N. A1 - Park, N. A1 - Perkins, J. S. A1 - Pohl, M. 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 - Sadun, A. A1 - Santander, M. A1 - Sembroski, G. H. A1 - Shahinyan, K. A1 - Sheidaei, F. A1 - Smith, A. W. A1 - Staszak, D. A1 - Telezhinsky, Igor O. A1 - Theiling, M. A1 - Tyler, J. 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 - Wilhelm, Alina A1 - Williams, D. A. A1 - Zitzer, B. A1 - Boettcher, Markus A1 - Fumagalli, M. T1 - Investigating broadband variability of the TeV blazar 1ES 1959+650 JF - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics N2 - 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. KW - BL Lacertae objects: individual (1ES 1959+650) KW - gamma rays: galaxies Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/797/2/89 SN - 0004-637X SN - 1538-4357 VL - 797 IS - 2 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Aliu, E. 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 - Cardenzana, J. V. A1 - Cerruti, M. A1 - Chen, Xuhui A1 - Ciupik, L. A1 - Connolly, M. P. A1 - Cui, W. A1 - Dickinson, H. J. A1 - Eisch, J. D. A1 - Falcone, A. A1 - Feng, Q. A1 - Finley, J. P. A1 - Fleischhack, H. A1 - Flinders, A. 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 - 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 - Lang, M. J. A1 - Loo, A. 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 - Pandel, D. A1 - Park, N. A1 - Pelassa, V. A1 - Petrashyk, A. 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 - Rulten, 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 - Varlotta, A. A1 - Vincent, S. A1 - Wakely, S. P. A1 - Weiner, O. M. A1 - Weinstein, A. A1 - Wilhelm, Alina A1 - Williams, D. A. A1 - Zitzer, B. A1 - Chernyakova, M. A1 - Roberts, M. S. E. T1 - A SEARCH FOR VERY HIGH ENERGY GAMMA RAYS FROM THE MISSING LINK BINARY PULSAR J1023+0038 WITH VERITAS JF - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics N2 - The binary millisecond radio pulsar PSR J1023+0038 exhibits many characteristics similar to the gamma-ray binary system PSR B1259-63/LS 2883, making it an ideal candidate for the study of high-energy nonthermal emission. It has been the subject of multiwavelength campaigns following the disappearance of the pulsed radio emission in 2013 June, which revealed the appearance of an accretion disk around the neutron star. We present the results of very high energy (VHE) gamma-ray observations carried out by the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System before and after this change of state. Searches for steady and pulsed emission of both data sets yield no significant gamma-ray signal above 100 GeV, and upper limits are given for both a steady and pulsed gamma-ray flux. These upper limits are used to constrain the magnetic field strength in the shock region of the PSR J1023+0038 system. Assuming that VHE gamma rays are produced via an inverse Compton mechanism in the shock region, we constrain the shock magnetic field to be greater than similar to 2 G before the disappearance of the radio pulsar and greater than similar to 10 G afterward. KW - binaries: general KW - gamma rays: general KW - pulsars: general KW - pulsars: individual (PSR J1023+0038) Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3847/0004-637X/831/2/193 SN - 0004-637X SN - 1538-4357 VL - 831 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Aliu, E. A1 - Archambault, S. A1 - Archer, A. A1 - Aune, T. A1 - Barnacka, Anna A1 - Beilicke, M. A1 - Benbow, W. A1 - Bird, R. A1 - Buckley, J. H. 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, W. A1 - Dickinson, H. J. A1 - Dumm, J. 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 - Griffiths, S. T. A1 - Grube, J. A1 - Gyuk, G. A1 - Kansson, N. H. A. A1 - Hanna, D. A1 - Holder, J. A1 - Humensky, T. B. A1 - Johnson, C. A. A1 - Kaaret, P. A1 - Kar, P. A1 - Kertzman, M. A1 - Kieda, D. A1 - Krennrich, F. A1 - Kumar, S. A1 - Lang, M. J. A1 - Lyutikov, M. A1 - Madhavan, A. S. A1 - Maier, G. A1 - McArthur, S. A1 - McCann, A. A1 - Meagher, K. A1 - Millis, J. A1 - Moriarty, P. A1 - Mukherjee, R. A1 - Nieto, D. A1 - Ong, R. A. A1 - Otte, A. N. A1 - Park, N. A1 - Pohl, Manuela A1 - Popkow, A. A1 - Prokoph, H. A1 - Pueschel, Elisa A1 - Quinn, J. A1 - Ragan, K. A1 - Reyes, L. C. A1 - Reynolds, P. T. A1 - Richards, G. T. A1 - Roache, E. 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 - Varlotta, A. A1 - Vincent, S. A1 - Wakely, S. P. A1 - Weinstein, A. A1 - Williams, D. A. A1 - Zajczyk, A. A1 - Zitzer, B. T1 - A search for pulsations from geminga above 100 GeV with veritas JF - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics N2 - We present the results of 71.6 hr of observations of the Geminga pulsar (PSR J0633+1746) with the VERITAS very-high-energy gamma-ray telescope array. Data taken with VERITAS between 2007 November and 2013 February were phase-folded using a Geminga pulsar timing solution derived from data recorded by the XMM-Newton and Fermi-LAT space telescopes. No significant pulsed emission above 100 GeV is observed, and we report upper limits at the 95% confidence level on the integral flux above 135 GeV (spectral analysis threshold) of 4.0x10(-13) s(-1) cm(-2) and 1.7 x 10(-13) s(-1) cm(-2) for the two principal peaks in the emission profile. These upper limits, placed in context with phase-resolved spectral energy distributions determined from 5 yr of data from the Fermi-Large Area Telescope (LAT), constrain possible hardening of the Geminga pulsar emission spectra above similar to 50 GeV. KW - gamma rays: stars KW - pulsars: general KW - pulsars: individual (PSR J0633+1746, Geminga) Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/800/1/61 SN - 0004-637X SN - 1538-4357 VL - 800 IS - 1 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER -