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  - 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  -