@article{AbeysekaraArcherBenbowetal.2018, author = {Abeysekara, A. U. and Archer, A. and Benbow, Wystan and Bird, Ralph and Brose, Robert and Buchovecky, M. and Bugaev, V. and Connolly, M. P. and Cui, Wei and Errando, Manel and Falcone, A. and Feng, Qi and Finley, John P. and Flinders, A. and Fortson, L. and Furniss, Amy and Gillanders, Gerard H. and Huetten, M. and Hanna, David and Hervet, O. and Holder, J. and Hughes, G. and Humensky, T. B. and Johnson, Caitlin A. and Kaaret, Philip and Kar, P. and Kelley-Hoskins, N. and Kertzman, M. and Kieda, David and Krause, Maria and Krennrich, F. and Lang, M. J. and Lin, T. T. Y. and Maier, Gernot and McArthur, S. and Moriarty, P. and Mukherjee, Reshmi and Ong, R. A. and Park, N. and Perkins, Jeremy S. and Petrashyk, A. and Pohl, Martin and Popkow, Alexis and Pueschel, Elisa and Quinn, J. and Ragan, K. and Reynolds, P. T. and Richards, Gregory T. and Roache, E. and Rulten, C. and Sadeh, I. and Santander, M. and Sembroski, G. H. and Shahinyan, Karlen and Tyler, J. and Wakely, S. P. and Weiner, O. M. and Weinstein, A. and Wells, R. M. and Wilcox, P. and Wilhelm, Alina and Williams, David A. and Zitzer, B. and Vurm, Indrek and Beloborodov, Andrei}, title = {A Strong Limit on the Very-high-energy Emission from GRB 150323A}, series = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics}, volume = {857}, journal = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics}, number = {1}, publisher = {IOP Publ. Ltd.}, address = {Bristol}, organization = {VERITAS Collaboration}, issn = {0004-637X}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/aab371}, pages = {6}, year = {2018}, abstract = {On 2015 March 23, the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) responded to a Swift-Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) detection of a gamma-ray burst, with observations beginning 270 s after the onset of BAT emission, and only 135 s after the main BAT emission peak. No statistically significant signal is detected above 140 GeV. The VERITAS upper limit on the fluence in a 40-minute integration corresponds to about 1\% of the prompt fluence. Our limit is particularly significant because the very-high-energy (VHE) observation started only similar to 2 minutes after the prompt emission peaked, and Fermi-Large Area Telescope observations of numerous other bursts have revealed that the high-energy emission is typically delayed relative to the prompt radiation and lasts significantly longer. Also, the proximity of GRB 150323A (z = 0.593) limits the attenuation by the extragalactic background light to similar to 50\% at 100-200 GeV. We conclude that GRB 150323A had an intrinsically very weak high-energy afterglow, or that the GeV spectrum had a turnover below similar to 100 GeV. If the GRB exploded into the stellar wind of a massive progenitor, the VHE non-detection constrains the wind density parameter to be A greater than or similar to 3 x 10(11) g . cm(-1), consistent with a standard Wolf-Rayet progenitor. Alternatively, the VHE emission from the blast wave would be weak in a very tenuous medium such as the interstellar medium, which therefore cannot be ruled out as the environment of GRB 150323A.}, language = {en} } @article{AliuArchambaultArlenetal.2012, author = {Aliu, E. and Archambault, S. and Arlen, T. and Aune, T. and Beilicke, M. and Benbow, W. and Boettcher, Markus and Bouvier, A. and Buckley, J. H. and Bugaev, V. and Cesarini, A. and Ciupik, L. and Collins-Hughes, E. and Connolly, M. P. and Cui, W. and Dickherber, R. and Duke, C. and Dumm, J. and Errando, M. and Falcone, A. and Federici, Simone and Feng, Q. and Finley, J. P. and Finnegan, G. and Fortson, L. and Furniss, A. and Galante, N. and Gall, D. and Godambe, S. and Griffin, S. and Grube, J. and Gyuk, G. and Hanna, D. and Holder, J. and Huan, H. and Kaaret, P. and Karlsson, N. and Khassen, Y. and Kieda, D. and Krawczynski, H. and Krennrich, F. and Lee, K. and Madhavan, A. S. and Maier, G. and Majumdar, P. and McArthur, S. and McCann, A. and Moriarty, P. and Mukherjee, R. and Nelson, T. and de Bhroithe, A. O'Faolain and Ong, R. A. and Orr, M. and Otte, A. N. and Park, N. and Perkins, J. S. and Pichel, A. and Pohl, Martin and Prokoph, H. and Quinn, J. and Ragan, K. and Reyes, L. C. and Reynolds, P. T. and Roache, E. and Saxon, D. B. and Sembroski, G. H. and Staszak, D. and Telezhinsky, Igor O. and Tesic, G. and Theiling, M. and Thibadeau, S. and Tsurusaki, K. and Varlotta, A. and Vassiliev, V. V. and Vincent, S. and Vivier, M. and Wakely, S. P. and Weekes, T. C. and Weinstein, A. and Welsing, R. and Williams, D. A. and Zitzer, B. and Fortin, P. and Horan, D. and Fumagalli, M. and Kaplan, K. and Prochaska, J. X.}, title = {Veritas observations of six bright, hard-spectrum fermi-lat blazars}, series = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics}, volume = {759}, journal = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics}, number = {2}, publisher = {IOP Publ. Ltd.}, address = {Bristol}, organization = {VERITAS Collaboration}, issn = {0004-637X}, doi = {10.1088/0004-637X/759/2/102}, pages = {13}, year = {2012}, abstract = {We report on VERITAS very high energy (VHE; E >= 100 GeV) observations of six blazars selected from the Fermi Large Area Telescope First Source Catalog (1FGL). The gamma-ray emission from 1FGL sources was extrapolated up to the VHE band, taking gamma-ray absorption by the extragalactic background light into account. This allowed the selection of six bright, hard-spectrum blazars that were good candidate TeV emitters. Spectroscopic redshift measurements were attempted with the Keck Telescope for the targets without Sloan Digital Sky Survey spectroscopic data. No VHE emission is detected during the observations of the six sources described here. Corresponding TeV upper limits are presented, along with contemporaneous Fermi observations and non-concurrent Swift UVOT and X-Ray Telescope data. The blazar broadband spectral energy distributions (SEDs) are assembled and modeled with a single-zone synchrotron self-Compton model. The SED built for each of the six blazars shows a synchrotron peak bordering between the intermediate-and high-spectrum-peak classifications, with four of the six resulting in particle-dominated emission regions.}, language = {en} } @article{ArchambaultArcherBenbowetal.2017, author = {Archambault, S. and Archer, A. and Benbow, W. and Bird, Ralph and Bourbeau, E. and Bouvier, A. and Buchovecky, M. and Bugaev, V. and Cardenzana, J. V. and Cerruti, M. and Ciupik, L. and Connolly, M. P. and Cui, W. and Daniel, M. K. and Errando, M. and Falcone, A. and Feng, Q. and Finley, J. P. and Fleischhack, H. and Fortson, L. and Furniss, A. and Gillanders, G. H. and Griffin, S. and Hanna, D. and Hervet, O. and Holder, J. and Hughes, G. and Humensky, T. B. and Hutten, M. and Johnson, C. A. and Kaaret, P. and Kar, P. and Kertzman, M. and Kieda, D. and Krause, M. and Lang, M. J. and Lin, T. T. Y. and Maier, G. and McArthur, S. and Moriarty, P. and Mukherjee, R. and Nieto, D. and Ong, R. A. and Otte, A. N. and Park, N. and Pohl, Martin and Popkow, A. and Pueschel, Elisa and Quinn, J. and Ragan, K. and Reynolds, P. T. and Richards, G. T. and Roache, E. and Rulten, C. and Sadeh, I. and Sembroski, G. H. and Shahinyan, K. and Staszak, D. and Telezhinsky, Igor O. and Trepanier, S. and Wakely, S. P. and Weinstein, A. and Wilcox, P. and Williams, D. A. and Zitzer, B.}, title = {Gamma-ray observations under bright moonlight with VERITAS}, series = {Astroparticle physics}, volume = {91}, journal = {Astroparticle physics}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0927-6505}, doi = {10.1016/j.astropartphys.2017.03.001}, pages = {34 -- 43}, year = {2017}, abstract = {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.}, language = {en} } @article{AliuAuneBarnackaetal.2014, author = {Aliu, E. and Aune, T. and Barnacka, Anna and Beilicke, M. and Benbow, W. and Berger, K. and Biteau, Jonathan and Buckley, J. H. and Bugaev, V. and Byrum, K. and Cardenzana, J. V. and Cerruti, M. and Chen, Xuhui and Ciupik, L. and Connaughton, V. and Cui, W. and Dickinson, H. J. and Eisch, J. D. and Errando, M. and Falcone, A. and Federici, Simone and Feng, Q. and Finley, J. P. and Fleischhack, H. and Fortin, P. and Fortson, L. and Furniss, A. and Galante, N. and Gillanders, G. H. and Griffin, S. and Griffiths, S. T. and Grube, J. and Gyuk, G. and Hakansson, Nils and Hanna, D. and Holder, J. and Hughes, G. and Humensky, T. B. and Johnson, C. A. and Kaaret, P. and Kar, P. and Kertzman, M. and Khassen, Y. and Kieda, D. and Krawczynski, H. and Krennrich, F. and Lang, M. J. and Madhavan, A. S. and Maier, G. and McArthur, S. and McCann, A. and Meagher, K. and Millis, J. and Moriarty, P. and Mukherjee, R. and Nieto, D. and Ong, R. A. and Otte, A. N. and Park, N. and Pohl, Martin and Popkow, A. and Prokoph, H. and Pueschel, Elisa and Quinn, J. and Ragan, K. and Rajotte, J. and Reyes, L. C. and Reynolds, P. T. and Richards, G. T. and Roache, E. and Sembroski, G. H. and Shahinyan, K. and Smith, A. W. and Staszak, D. and Telezhinsky, Igor O. and Tucci, J. V. and Tyler, J. and Varlotta, A. and Vassiliev, V. V. and Vincent, S. and Wakely, S. P. and Weiner, O. M. and Weinstein, A. and Welsing, R. and Wilhelm, Alina and Williams, D. A. and Zitzer, B. and McEnery, J. E. and Perkins, J. S. and Veres, P. and Zhu, S.}, title = {Constraints on very high energy emission from GRB 130427A}, series = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics ; Part 2, Letters}, volume = {795}, journal = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics ; Part 2, Letters}, number = {1}, publisher = {IOP Publ. Ltd.}, address = {Bristol}, issn = {2041-8205}, doi = {10.1088/2041-8205/795/1/L3}, pages = {6}, year = {2014}, abstract = {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.}, language = {en} } @article{AbeysekaraArchambaultArcheretal.2016, author = {Abeysekara, A. U. and Archambault, S. and Archer, A. and Benbow, W. and Bird, R. and Buchovecky, M. and Buckley, J. H. and Byrum, K. and Cardenzana, J. V. and Cerruti, M. and Chen, Xuhui and Christiansen, J. L. and Ciupik, L. and Cui, W. and Dickinson, H. J. and Eisch, J. D. and Errando, M. and Falcone, A. and Fegan, D. J. and Feng, Q. and Finley, J. P. and Fleischhack, H. and Fortin, P. and Fortson, L. and Furniss, A. and Gillanders, G. H. and Griffin, S. and Grube, J. and Gyuk, G. and Huetten, M. and Hakansson, Nils and Hanna, D. and Holder, J. and Humensky, T. B. and Johnson, C. A. and Kaaret, P. and Kar, P. and Kelley-Hoskins, N. and Kertzman, M. and Kieda, D. and Krause, M. and Krennrich, F. and Kumar, S. and Lang, M. J. and Lin, T. T. Y. and Maier, G. and McArthur, S. and McCann, A. and Meagher, K. and Moriarty, P. and Mukherjee, R. and Nieto, D. and Ong, R. A. and Otte, A. N. and Park, N. and Perkins, J. S. and Petrashyk, A. and Pohl, Martin and Popkow, A. and Pueschel, Elisa and Quinn, J. and Ragan, K. and Ratliff, G. and Reynolds, P. T. and Richards, G. T. and Roache, E. and Santander, M. and Sembroski, G. H. and Shahinyan, K. and Staszak, D. and Telezhinsky, Igor O. and Tucci, J. V. and Tyler, J. and Vincent, S. and Wakely, S. P. and Weiner, O. M. and Weinstein, A. and Williams, D. A. and Zitzer, B.}, title = {A SEARCH FOR BRIEF OPTICAL FLASHES ASSOCIATED WITH THE SETI TARGET KIC 8462852}, series = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics ; Part 2, Letters}, volume = {818}, journal = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics ; Part 2, Letters}, publisher = {IOP Publ. Ltd.}, address = {Bristol}, issn = {2041-8205}, doi = {10.3847/2041-8205/818/2/L33}, pages = {6}, year = {2016}, abstract = {The F-type star KIC. 8462852 has recently been identified as an exceptional target for search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) observations. We describe an analysis methodology for optical SETI, which we have used to analyze nine hours of serendipitous archival observations of KIC. 8462852 made with the VERITAS gamma-ray observatory between 2009 and 2015. No evidence of pulsed optical beacons, above a pulse intensity at the Earth of approximately 1 photon m(-2), is found. We also discuss the potential use of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope arrays in searching for extremely short duration optical transients in general.}, language = {en} } @article{AbeysekaraArcherBenbowetal.2019, author = {Abeysekara, A. U. and Archer, A. and Benbow, Wystan and Bird, Ralph and Brill, A. and Brose, Robert and Buchovecky, M. and Calderon-Madera, D. and Christiansen, J. L. and Cui, W. and Daniel, M. K. and Falcone, A. and Feng, Q. and Fernandez-Alonso, M. and Finley, J. P. and Fortson, Lucy and Furniss, Amy and Gent, A. and Giuri, C. and Gueta, O. and Hanna, David and Hassan, T. and Hervet, Oliver and Holder, J. and Hughes, G. and Humensky, T. B. and Johnson, Caitlin A. and Kaaret, P. and Kertzman, M. and Kieda, David and Krause, Maria and Krennrich, F. and Kumar, S. and Lang, M. J. and Maier, Gernot and Moriarty, P. and Mukherjee, Reshmi and Nievas-Rosillo, M. and Ong, R. A. and Pfrang, Konstantin Johannes and Pohl, Martin and Prado, R. R. and Pueschel, Elisa and Quinn, J. and Ragan, K. and Reynolds, P. T. and Ribeiro, D. and Richards, G. T. and Roache, E. and Rovero, A. C. and Sadeh, Iftach and Santander, M. and Sembroski, G. H. and Shahinyan, Karlen and Sushch, Iurii and Svraka, T. and Weinstein, A. and Wells, R. M. and Wilcox, Patrick and Wilhelm, Alina and Williams, David Arnold and Williamson, T. J. and Zitzer, B.}, title = {Measurement of the Extragalactic Background Light Spectral Energy Distribution with VERITAS}, series = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics}, volume = {885}, journal = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics}, number = {2}, publisher = {IOP Publ. Ltd.}, address = {Bristol}, issn = {0004-637X}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/ab4817}, pages = {8}, year = {2019}, abstract = {The extragalactic background light (EBL), a diffuse photon field in the optical and infrared range, is a record of radiative processes over the universe?s history. Spectral measurements of blazars at very high energies (>100 GeV) enable the reconstruction of the spectral energy distribution (SED) of the EBL, as the blazar spectra are modified by redshift- and energy-dependent interactions of the gamma-ray photons with the EBL. The spectra of 14 VERITAS-detected blazars are included in a new measurement of the EBL SED that is independent of EBL SED models. The resulting SED covers an EBL wavelength range of 0.56?56 ?m, and is in good agreement with lower limits obtained by assuming that the EBL is entirely due to radiation from cataloged galaxies.}, language = {en} } @article{ArcherBenbowBirdetal.2018, author = {Archer, A. and Benbow, W. and Bird, R. and Brose, Robert and Buchovecky, M. and Buckley, J. H. and Bugaev, V. and Connolly, M. P. and Cui, W. and Daniel, M. K. and Feng, Q. and Finley, J. P. and Fortson, L. and Furniss, A. and Gillanders, G. and Huetten, M. and Hanna, D. and Hervet, O. and Holder, J. and Hughes, G. and Humensky, T. B. and Johnson, C. A. and Kaaret, P. and Kar, P. and Kelley-Hoskins, N. and Kertzman, M. and Kieda, D. and Krause, M. and Krennrich, F. and Kumar, S. and Lang, M. J. and Lin, T. T. Y. and Maier, G. and McArthur, S. and Moriarty, P. and Mukherjee, R. and Ong, R. A. and Otte, A. N. and Petrashyk, A. and Pohl, M. and Pueschel, Elisa and Quinn, J. and Ragan, K. and Reynolds, P. T. and Richards, G. T. and Roache, E. and Rulten, C. and Sadeh, I. and Santander, M. and Sembroski, G. H. and Staszak, D. and Sushch, I. and Wakely, S. P. and Wells, R. M. and Wilcox, P. and Wilhelm, Alina and Williams, D. A. and Williamson, T. J. and Zitzer, B.}, title = {Measurement of cosmic-ray electrons at TeV energies by VERITAS}, series = {Physical review : D, Particles, fields, gravitation, and cosmology}, volume = {98}, journal = {Physical review : D, Particles, fields, gravitation, and cosmology}, number = {6}, publisher = {American Physical Society}, address = {College Park}, organization = {VERITAS Collaboration}, issn = {2470-0010}, doi = {10.1103/PhysRevD.98.062004}, pages = {7}, year = {2018}, abstract = {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.}, language = {en} } @article{AbeysekaraArchambaultArcheretal.2016, author = {Abeysekara, A. U. and Archambault, S. and Archer, A. and Benbow, W. and Bird, R. and Biteau, Jonathan and Buchovecky, M. and Buckley, J. H. and Bugaev, V. and Byrum, K. and Cardenzana, J. V. and Cerruti, M. and Chen, Xuhui and Christiansen, J. L. and Ciupik, L. and Connolly, M. P. and Cui, W. and Dickinson, H. J. and Dumm, J. and Eisch, J. D. and Errando, M. and Falcone, A. and Feng, Q. and Finley, J. P. and Fleischhack, H. and Flinders, A. and Fortin, P. and Fortson, L. and Furniss, A. and Gillanders, G. H. and Griffin, S. and Grube, J. and Gyuk, G. and Huetten, M. and Hanna, D. and Holder, J. and Humensky, T. B. and Johnson, C. A. and Kaaret, P. and Kar, P. and Kelley-Hoskins, N. and Kertzman, M. and Kieda, D. and Krause, M. and Krennrich, F. and Lang, M. J. and Maier, G. and McArthur, S. and McCann, A. and Meagher, K. and Moriarty, P. and Mukherjee, R. and Nieto, D. and Ong, R. A. and Otte, A. N. and Park, N. and Pelassa, V. and Petrashyk, A. and Petry, D. and Pohl, Martin and Popkow, A. and Pueschel, Elisa and Quinn, J. and Ragan, K. and Ratliff, G. and Reyes, L. C. and Reynolds, P. T. and Reynolds, K. and Richards, G. T. and Roache, E. and Rulten, C. and Santander, M. and Sembroski, G. H. and Shahinyan, K. and Smith, A. W. and Staszak, D. and Telezhinsky, Igor O. and Tucci, J. V. and Tyler, J. and Vincent, S. and Wakely, S. P. and Weiner, O. M. and Weinstein, A. and Wilhelm, Alina and Williams, D. A. and Zitzer, B.}, title = {VERITAS and multiwavelength observations of the BL Lacertae object 1ES 1741+196}, series = {Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society}, volume = {459}, journal = {Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society}, publisher = {Oxford Univ. Press}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {0035-8711}, doi = {10.1093/mnras/stw664}, pages = {2550 -- 2557}, year = {2016}, abstract = {We present results from multiwavelength observations of the BL Lacertae object 1ES 1741 + 196, including results in the very high energy gamma-ray regime using the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS). The VERITAS time-averaged spectrum, measured above 180 GeV, is well modelled by a power law with a spectral index of 2.7 +/- 0.7(stat) +/- 0.2(syst). The integral flux above 180 GeV is (3.9 +/- 0.8(stat) +/- 1.0(syst)) x 10(-8) m(-2) s(-1), corresponding to 1.6 per cent of the Crab nebula flux on average. The multiwavelength spectral energy distribution of the source suggests that 1ES 1741+196 is an extreme-high-frequency-peaked BL Lacertae object. The observations analysed in this paper extend over a period of six years, during which time no strong flares were observed in any band. This analysis is therefore one of the few characterizations of a blazar in a non-flaring state.}, language = {en} } @article{AbeysekaraArchambaultArcheretal.2017, author = {Abeysekara, A. U. and Archambault, S. and Archer, A. and Benbow, W. and Bird, R. and Brose, Robert and Buchovecky, M. and Buckley, J. H. and Bugaev, V. and Cerruti, M. and Connolly, M. P. and Cui, W. and Falcone, A. and Feng, Q. and Finley, J. P. and Fleischhack, H. and Fortson, L. and Furniss, A. and Gillanders, G. H. and Griffin, S. and Grube, J. and Huetten, M. and Hanna, D. and Hervet, O. and Holder, J. and Humensky, T. B. and Johnson, C. A. and Kaaret, P. and Kar, P. and Kelley-Hoskins, N. and Kertzman, M. and Kieda, D. and Krause, M. and Krennrich, F. and Kumar, S. and Lang, M. J. and Maier, G. and McArthur, S. and Moriarty, P. and Mukherjee, R. and Nieto, D. and Ong, R. A. and Otte, A. N. and Park, N. and Petrashyk, A. and Pohl, Martin and Popkow, A. and Pueschel, Elisa and Quinn, J. and Ragan, K. and Reynolds, P. T. and Richards, G. T. and Roache, E. and Rulten, C. and Sadeh, I. and Santander, M. and Sembroski, G. H. and Shahinyan, K. and Staszak, D. and Telezhinsky, Igor O. and Tyler, J. and Vassiliev, V. V. and Wakely, S. P. and Weiner, O. M. and Weinstein, A. and Wilcox, P. and Wilhelm, Alina and Williams, D. A. and Zitzer, B.}, title = {Discovery of Very-high-energy Emission from RGB J2243+203 and Derivation of Its Redshift Upper Limit}, series = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics ; Supplement series}, volume = {233}, journal = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics ; Supplement series}, publisher = {IOP Publ. Ltd.}, address = {Bristol}, issn = {0067-0049}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4365/aa8d76}, pages = {1188 -- 1204}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Very-high-energy (VHE; > 100 GeV) gamma-ray emission from the blazar RGB J2243+203 was discovered with the VERITAS Cherenkov telescope array, during the period between 2014 December 21 and 24. The VERITAS energy spectrum from this source can be fitted by a power law with a photon index of 4.6 +/- 0.5, and a flux normalization at 0.15 TeV of (6.3 +/- 1.1) x 10(-10) cm(-2) s(-1) TeV-1. The integrated Fermi-LAT flux from 1 to 100 GeV during the VERITAS detection is (4.1 +/- 0.8) x 10(-8) cm(-2) s(-1), which is an order of magnitude larger than the four-year-averaged flux in the same energy range reported in the 3FGL catalog, (4.0 +/- 0.1 x 10(-9) cm(-2) s(-1)). The detection with VERITAS triggered observations in the X-ray band with the Swift-XRT. However, due to scheduling constraints Swift-XRT observations were performed 67 hr after the VERITAS detection, rather than simultaneously with the VERITAS observations. The observed X-ray energy spectrum between 2 and 10 keV can be fitted with a power law with a spectral index of 2.7 +/- 0.2, and the integrated photon flux in the same energy band is (3.6 +/- 0.6) x 10(-13) cm(-2) s(-1). EBL-model-dependent upper limits of the blazar redshift have been derived. Depending on the EBL model used, the upper limit varies in the range from z < 0.9 to z < 1.1.}, language = {en} } @article{ArcherBenbowBirdetal.2018, author = {Archer, A. and Benbow, W. and Bird, R. and Brose, Robert and Buchovecky, M. and Bugaev, V. and Connolly, M. P. and Cui, W. and Daniel, M. K. and Falcone, A. and Feng, Q. and Finley, J. P. and Fleischhack, H. and Fortson, L. and Furniss, A. and Hanna, D. and Hervet, O. and Holder, J. and Hughes, G. and Humensky, T. B. and Hutten, M. and Johnson, C. A. and Kaaret, P. and Kelley-Hoskins, N. and Kieda, D. and Krause, M. and Krennrich, F. and Kumar, S. and Lang, M. J. and Maier, G. and McArthur, S. and Moriarty, P. and Mukherjee, R. and Nieto, D. and Ong, R. A. and Otte, A. N. and Park, N. and Petrashyk, A. and Pohl, Martin and Popkow, A. and Pueschel, Elisa and Quinn, J. and Ragan, K. and Reynolds, P. T. and Richards, G. T. and Roache, E. and Rulten, C. and Sadeh, I. and Tyler, J. and Wakely, S. P. and Weiner, O. M. and Wilcox, P. and Wilhelm, Alina and Williams, D. A. and Wissel, S. A. and Zitzer, B.}, title = {Measurement of the iron spectrum in cosmic rays by VERITAS}, series = {Physical review : D, Particles, fields, gravitation, and cosmology}, volume = {98}, journal = {Physical review : D, Particles, fields, gravitation, and cosmology}, number = {2}, publisher = {American Physical Society}, address = {College Park}, organization = {VERITAS Collaboration}, issn = {2470-0010}, doi = {10.1103/PhysRevD.98.022009}, pages = {15}, year = {2018}, abstract = {We present a new measurement of the energy spectrum of iron nuclei in cosmic rays from 20 TeV to 500 TeV; The measurement makes use of a template-based analysis method, which, for the first time, is applied to the energy reconstruction of iron-induced air showers recorded by the VERITAS array of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes. The event selection makes use of the direct Cherenkov light which is emitted by charged particles before the first interaction, as well as other parameters related to the shape of the recorded air shower images. The measured spectrum is well described by a power law dF/dE = f(0) center dot (E/E-0)(-gamma) over the full energy range, with gamma = 2.82 +/- 0.30(stat)(-0.27)(+0.24)(syst) and f(0) = (4.82 +/- 0.98(stat)(-2.70)(+2.12)(syst)) x 10(-7) m(-2) s(-1) TeV-1 sr(-1) at E-0 = 50 TeV, with no indication of a cutoff or spectral break. The measured differential flux is compatible with previous results, with improved statistical uncertainty at the highest energies.}, language = {en} }