TY  - JOUR
A1  - Aliu, E.
A1  - Archambault, S.
A1  - Arlen, T.
A1  - Aune, T.
A1  - Beilicke, M.
A1  - Benbow, W.
A1  - Boettcher, Markus
A1  - Bouvier, A.
A1  - Buckley, J. H.
A1  - Bugaev, V.
A1  - Cesarini, A.
A1  - Ciupik, L.
A1  - Collins-Hughes, E.
A1  - Connolly, M. P.
A1  - Cui, W.
A1  - Dickherber, R.
A1  - Duke, C.
A1  - Dumm, J.
A1  - Errando, M.
A1  - Falcone, A.
A1  - Federici, Simone
A1  - Feng, Q.
A1  - Finley, J. P.
A1  - Finnegan, G.
A1  - Fortson, L.
A1  - Furniss, A.
A1  - Galante, N.
A1  - Gall, D.
A1  - Godambe, S.
A1  - Griffin, S.
A1  - Grube, J.
A1  - Gyuk, G.
A1  - Hanna, D.
A1  - Holder, J.
A1  - Huan, H.
A1  - Kaaret, P.
A1  - Karlsson, N.
A1  - Khassen, Y.
A1  - Kieda, D.
A1  - Krawczynski, H.
A1  - Krennrich, F.
A1  - Lee, K.
A1  - Madhavan, A. S.
A1  - Maier, G.
A1  - Majumdar, P.
A1  - McArthur, S.
A1  - McCann, A.
A1  - Moriarty, P.
A1  - Mukherjee, R.
A1  - Nelson, T.
A1  - de Bhroithe, A. O'Faolain
A1  - Ong, R. A.
A1  - Orr, M.
A1  - Otte, A. N.
A1  - Park, N.
A1  - Perkins, J. S.
A1  - Pichel, A.
A1  - Pohl, Martin
A1  - Prokoph, H.
A1  - Quinn, J.
A1  - Ragan, K.
A1  - Reyes, L. C.
A1  - Reynolds, P. T.
A1  - Roache, E.
A1  - Saxon, D. B.
A1  - Sembroski, G. H.
A1  - Staszak, D.
A1  - Telezhinsky, Igor O.
A1  - Tesic, G.
A1  - Theiling, M.
A1  - Thibadeau, S.
A1  - Tsurusaki, K.
A1  - Varlotta, A.
A1  - Vassiliev, V. V.
A1  - Vincent, S.
A1  - Vivier, M.
A1  - Wakely, S. P.
A1  - Weekes, T. C.
A1  - Weinstein, A.
A1  - Welsing, R.
A1  - Williams, D. A.
A1  - Zitzer, B.
A1  - Fortin, P.
A1  - Horan, D.
A1  - Fumagalli, M.
A1  - Kaplan, K.
A1  - Prochaska, J. X.
T1  - Veritas observations of six bright, hard-spectrum fermi-lat blazars
JF  - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics
N2  - 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.
KW  - BL Lacertae objects: general
KW  - gamma rays: galaxies
Y1  - 2012
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/759/2/102
SN  - 0004-637X
VL  - 759
IS  - 2
PB  - IOP Publ. Ltd.
CY  - Bristol
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Acciari, V. A.
A1  - Aliu, E.
A1  - Araya, M.
A1  - Arlen, T.
A1  - Aune, T.
A1  - Beilicke, M.
A1  - Benbow, W.
A1  - Bradbury, S. M.
A1  - Buckley, J. H.
A1  - Bugaev, V.
A1  - Byrum, K.
A1  - Cannon, A.
A1  - Cesarini, A.
A1  - Ciupik, L.
A1  - Collins-Hughes, E.
A1  - Cui, W.
A1  - Dickherber, R.
A1  - Duke, C.
A1  - Falcone, A.
A1  - Finley, J. P.
A1  - Fortson, L.
A1  - Furniss, A.
A1  - Galante, N.
A1  - Gall, D.
A1  - Godambe, S.
A1  - Griffin, S.
A1  - Guenette, R.
A1  - Gyuk, G.
A1  - Hanna, D.
A1  - Holder, J.
A1  - Hughes, G.
A1  - Hui, C. M.
A1  - Humensky, T. B.
A1  - Imran, A.
A1  - Kaaret, P.
A1  - Kertzman, M.
A1  - Krawczynski, H.
A1  - Krennrich, F.
A1  - Madhavan, A. S.
A1  - Maier, G.
A1  - Majumdar, P.
A1  - McArthur, S.
A1  - Moriarty, P.
A1  - Ong, R. A.
A1  - Otte, A. N.
A1  - Pandel, D.
A1  - Park, N.
A1  - Perkins, J. S.
A1  - Pohl, Martin
A1  - Prokoph, H.
A1  - Quinn, J.
A1  - Ragan, K.
A1  - Reyes, L. C.
A1  - Reynolds, P. T.
A1  - Roache, E.
A1  - Rose, H. J.
A1  - Saxon, D. B.
A1  - Sembroski, G. H.
A1  - Sentuerk, G. D.
A1  - Smith, A. W.
A1  - Tesic, G.
A1  - Theiling, M.
A1  - Thibadeau, S.
A1  - Varlotta, A.
A1  - Vincent, S.
A1  - Vivier, M.
A1  - Wakely, S. P.
A1  - Ward, J. E.
A1  - Weekes, T. C.
A1  - Weinstein, A.
A1  - Weisgarber, T.
A1  - Weng, S.
A1  - Williams, D. A.
A1  - Wood, M.
A1  - Zitzer, B.
T1  - Gamma-ray observations of the Be/Pulsar binary 1A 0535+262 during a Giant X-Ray outburst
JF  - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics
N2  - Giant X-ray outbursts, with luminosities of about 10(37) erg s(-1), are observed roughly every five years from the nearby Be/pulsar binary 1A 0535+262. In this article, we present observations of the source with VERITAS at very high energies (VHEs; E > 100 GeV) triggered by the X-ray outburst in 2009 December. The observations started shortly after the onset of the outburst and provided comprehensive coverage of the episode, as well as the 111 day binary orbit. No VHE emission is evident at any time. We also examined data from the contemporaneous observations of 1A 0535+262 with the Fermi/Large Area Telescope at high-energy photons (E > 0.1 GeV) and failed to detect the source at GeV energies. The X-ray continua measured with the Swift/X-Ray Telescope and the RXTE/PCA can be well described by the combination of blackbody and Comptonized emission from thermal electrons. Therefore, the gamma-ray and X-ray observations suggest the absence of a significant population of non-thermal particles in the system. This distinguishes 1A 0535+262 from those Be X-ray binaries (such as PSR B1259-63 and LS I +61 degrees 303) that have been detected at GeV-TeV energies. We discuss the implications of the results on theoretical models.
KW  - acceleration of particles
KW  - binaries: general
KW  - gamma rays: general
KW  - stars: individual (1A 0535+262)
Y1  - 2011
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/733/2/96
SN  - 0004-637X
VL  - 733
IS  - 2
PB  - IOP Publ. Ltd.
CY  - Bristol
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Abeysekara, A. U.
A1  - Archambault, S.
A1  - Archer, A.
A1  - Benbow, W.
A1  - Bird, R.
A1  - Brose, Robert
A1  - Buchovecky, M.
A1  - Buckley, J. H.
A1  - Bugaev, V.
A1  - Cerruti, M.
A1  - Connolly, M. P.
A1  - Cui, W.
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  - Grube, J.
A1  - Huetten, M.
A1  - Hanna, D.
A1  - Hervet, O.
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  - Moriarty, P.
A1  - Mukherjee, R.
A1  - Nieto, D.
A1  - Ong, R. A.
A1  - Otte, A. N.
A1  - Park, N.
A1  - Petrashyk, 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  - Rulten, C.
A1  - Sadeh, I.
A1  - Santander, M.
A1  - Sembroski, G. H.
A1  - Shahinyan, K.
A1  - Staszak, D.
A1  - Telezhinsky, Igor O.
A1  - Tyler, J.
A1  - Vassiliev, V. V.
A1  - Wakely, S. P.
A1  - Weiner, O. M.
A1  - Weinstein, A.
A1  - Wilcox, P.
A1  - Wilhelm, Alina
A1  - Williams, D. A.
A1  - Zitzer, B.
T1  - Discovery of Very-high-energy Emission from RGB J2243+203 and Derivation of Its Redshift Upper Limit
JF  - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics ; Supplement series
N2  - 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.
KW  - galaxies: individual (RGB J2243+203)
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4365/aa8d76
SN  - 0067-0049
SN  - 1538-4365
VL  - 233
SP  - 1188
EP  - 1204
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  - 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  - 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  - 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  - Archer, A.
A1  - Benbow, W.
A1  - Bird, R.
A1  - Brose, Robert
A1  - Buchovecky, M.
A1  - Bugaev, V.
A1  - Connolly, M. P.
A1  - Cui, W.
A1  - Daniel, M. K.
A1  - Falcone, A.
A1  - Feng, Q.
A1  - Finley, J. P.
A1  - Fleischhack, H.
A1  - Fortson, L.
A1  - Furniss, A.
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  - Kelley-Hoskins, N.
A1  - Kieda, D.
A1  - Krause, M.
A1  - Krennrich, F.
A1  - Kumar, S.
A1  - Lang, M. J.
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  - Petrashyk, 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  - Rulten, C.
A1  - Sadeh, I.
A1  - Tyler, J.
A1  - Wakely, S. P.
A1  - Weiner, O. M.
A1  - Wilcox, P.
A1  - Wilhelm, Alina
A1  - Williams, D. A.
A1  - Wissel, S. A.
A1  - Zitzer, B.
T1  - Measurement of the iron spectrum in cosmic rays by VERITAS
JF  - Physical review : D, Particles, fields, gravitation, and cosmology
N2  - 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.
Y1  - 2018
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.98.022009
SN  - 2470-0010
SN  - 2470-0029
VL  - 98
IS  - 2
PB  - American Physical Society
CY  - College Park
ER  -