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A search for enhanced very high energy GAMMA-RAY emission from the 2013 march crab nebula flare
(2014)
Aliu, E. ; Archambault, S. ; Aune, T. ; Benbow, W. ; Berger, K. ; Bird, R. ; Bouvier, A. ; Buckley, J. H. ; Bugaev, V. ; Byrum, K. ; Cerruti, M. ; Chen, Xuhui ; Ciupik, L. ; Connolly, M. P. ; Cui, W. ; Dumm, J. ; Errando, M. ; Falcone, A. ; Federici, Simone ; Feng, Q. ; Finley, J. P. ; Fortin, P. ; Fortson, L. ; Furniss, A. ; Galante, N. ; Gillanders, G. H. ; Griffin, S. ; Griffiths, S. T. ; Grube, J. ; Gyuk, G. ; Hanna, D. ; Holder, J. ; Hughes, G. ; Humensky, T. B. ; Kaaret, P. ; Kertzman, M. ; Khassen, Y. ; Kieda, D. ; Krennrich, F. ; Kumar, S. ; Lang, M. J. ; Lyutikov, M. ; Maier, G. ; McArthur, S. ; McCann, A. ; Meagher, K. ; Millis, J. ; Moriarty, P. ; Mukherjee, R. ; Ong, R. A. ; Otte, A. N. ; Park, N. ; Perkins, J. S. ; Pohl, M. ; Popkow, A. ; Quinn, J. ; Ragan, K. ; Rajotte, J. ; Reyes, L. C. ; Reynolds, P. T. ; Richards, G. T. ; Roache, E. ; Sembroski, G. H. ; Sheidaei, F. ; Smith, A. W. ; Staszak, D. ; Telezhinsky, Igor O. ; Theiling, M. ; Tucci, J. V. ; Tyler, J. ; Varlotta, A. ; Wakely, S. P. ; Weekes, T. C. ; Weinstein, A. ; Welsing, R. ; Williams, D. A. ; Zajczyk, A. ; Zitzer, B.
In 2013 March, a flaring episode from the Crab Nebula lasting similar to 2 weeks was detected by Fermi-LAT (Large Area Telescope on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope). The Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) provides simultaneous observations throughout this period. During the flare, Fermi-LAT detected a 20 fold increase in flux above the average synchrotron flux >100 MeV seen from the Crab Nebula. Simultaneous measurements with VERITAS are consistent with the non-variable long-term average Crab Nebula flux at TeV energies. Assuming a linear correlation between the very high energy flux change >1 TeV and the flux change seen in the Fermi-LAT band >100 MeV during the period of simultaneous observations, the linear correlation factor can be constrained to be at most 8.6 x 10(-3) with 95% confidence.
Acciari, V. A. ; Arlen, T. ; Aune, T. ; Benbow, W. ; Bird, R. ; Bouvier, A. ; Bradbury, S. M. ; Buckley, J. H. ; Bugaev, V. ; de la Calle Perez, I. ; Carter-Lewis, D. A. ; Cesarini, A. ; Ciupik, L. ; Collins-Hughes, E. ; Connolly, M. P. ; Cui, W. ; Duke, C. ; Dumm, J. ; Falcone, A. ; Federici, Simone ; Fegan, D. J. ; Fegan, S. J. ; Finley, J. P. ; Finnegan, G. ; Fortson, L. ; Gaidos, J. ; Galante, N. ; Gall, D. ; Gibbs, K. ; Gillanders, G. H. ; Griffin, S. ; Grube, J. ; Gyuk, G. ; Hanna, D. ; Horan, D. ; Humensky, T. B. ; Kaaret, P. ; Kertzman, M. ; Khassen, Y. ; Kieda, D. ; Krawczynski, H. ; Krennrich, F. ; Lang, M. J. ; McEnery, J. E. ; Madhavan, A. S. ; Moriarty, P. ; Nelson, T. ; Ong, R. A. ; Orr, M. ; Otte, A. N. ; Perkins, J. S. ; Petry, D. ; Pichel, A. ; Pohl, M. ; Quinn, J. ; Ragan, K. ; Reynolds, T. ; Roache, E. ; Rovero, A. ; Schroedter, M. ; Sembroski, G. H. ; Smith, A. ; Telezhinsky, Igor O. ; Theiling, M. ; Toner, J. ; Tyler, J. ; Varlotta, A. ; Vivier, M. ; Wakely, S. P. ; Ward, J. E. ; Weekes, T. C. ; Weinstein, A. ; Welsing, R. ; Williams, D. A. ; Wissel, S.
The variability of the blazar Markarian 421 in TeV gamma rays over a 14-year time period has been explored with the Whipple 10 m telescope. It is shown that the dynamic range of its flux variations is large and similar to that in X-rays. A correlation between the X-ray and TeV energy bands is observed during some bright flares and when the complete data sets are binned on long timescales. The main database consists of 878.4 h of observation with the Whipple telescope, spread over 783 nights. The peak energy response of the telescope was 400 GeV with 20% uncertainty. This is the largest database of any TeV-emitting active galactic nucleus (AGN) and hence was used to explore the variability profile of Markarian 421. The tithe-averaged flux from Markarian 421 over this period was 0.446 +/- 0.008 Crab flux units. The flux exceeded 10 Crab flux units on three separate occasions. For the 2000-2001 season the average flux reached 1.86 Crab units, while in the 1996-1997 season the average flux was only 0.23 Crab units.
Archer, A. ; Barnacka, Anna ; Beilicke, M. ; Benbow, W. ; Berger, K. ; Bird, R. ; Biteau, Jonathan ; Buckley, J. H. ; Bugaev, V. ; Byrum, K. ; Cardenzana, J. V. ; Cerruti, M. ; Chen, W. ; Chen, Xiaoming ; Ciupik, L. ; Connolly, M. P. ; Cui, W. ; Dickinson, H. J. ; Dumm, J. ; Eisch, J. D. ; Falcone, A. ; Federici, Simone ; Feng, Q. ; Finley, J. P. ; Fleischhack, H. ; Fortson, L. ; Furniss, A. ; Galante, N. ; Griffin, S. ; Griffiths, S. T. ; Grube, J. ; Gyuk, G. ; Hakansson, Nils ; Hanna, D. ; Holder, J. ; Hughes, G. ; Johnson, C. A. ; Kaaret, P. ; Kar, P. ; Kertzman, M. ; Khassen, Y. ; Kieda, D. ; Krawczynski, H. ; Kumar, S. ; Lang, M. J. ; Maier, G. ; McArthur, S. ; McCann, A. ; Meagher, K. ; Moriarty, P. ; Mukherjee, R. ; Nieto, D. ; Ong, R. A. ; Otte, A. N. ; Park, N. ; Perkins, J. S. ; Pohl, Manuela ; Popkow, A. ; Prokoph, H. ; Pueschel, Elisa ; Quinn, J. ; Ragan, K. ; Rajotte, J. ; Reyes, L. C. ; Reynolds, P. T. ; Richards, G. T. ; Roache, E. ; Sembroski, G. H. ; Shahinyan, K. ; Smith, A. W. ; Staszak, D. ; Telezhinsky, Igor O. ; Tucci, J. V. ; Tyler, J. ; Varlotta, A. ; Vincent, S. ; Wakely, S. P. ; Weinstein, A. ; Welsing, R. ; Wilhelm, Alina ; Williams, D. A. ; Zajczyk, A. ; Zitzer, B.
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.
Archambault, S. ; Arlen, T. ; Aune, T. ; Beilicke, M. ; Benbow, W. ; Bird, R. ; Boettcher, Markus ; Bouvier, A. ; Buckley, J. H. ; Bugaev, V. ; Ciupik, L. ; Collins-Hughes, E. ; Connolly, M. P. ; Cui, W. ; Dickherber, R. ; Dumm, J. ; Errando, M. ; Falcone, A. ; Federici, Simone ; Feng, Q. ; Finley, J. P. ; Fortson, L. ; Furniss, A. ; Galante, N. ; Gall, D. ; Garson, A. III. ; Gillanders, G. H. ; Griffin, S. ; Grube, J. ; Gusbar, C. ; Gyuk, G. ; Hanna, D. ; Holder, J. ; Hughes, G. ; Kaaret, P. ; Kertzman, M. ; Khassen, Y. ; Kieda, D. ; Krawczynski, H. ; Lamerato, A. ; Lang, M. J. ; Li, K. ; Madhavan, A. S. ; Maier, G. ; Majumdar, P. ; McArthur, S. ; McCann, A. ; Millis, J. ; Moriarty, P. ; Mukherjee, R. ; Nieto, D. ; Ong, R. A. ; Orr, M. ; Otte, A. N. ; Park, N. ; Perkins, J. S. ; Pohl, Martin ; Popkow, A. ; Prokoph, H. ; Quinn, J. ; Ragan, K. ; Reynolds, P. T. ; Richards, G. T. ; Roache, E. ; Roustazadeh, P. ; Saxon, D. B. ; Sembroski, G. H. ; Senturk, G. D. ; Skole, C. ; Staszak, D. ; Telezhinsky, Igor O. ; Tesic, G. ; Theiling, M. ; Varlotta, A. ; Vassiliev, V. V. ; Vincent, S. ; Wakely, S. P. ; Weinstein, A. ; Welsing, R. ; Williams, D. A. ; Zitzer, B.
We present the results of a multi-wavelength campaign targeting the blazar 1ES 1218+30.4 with observations with the 1.3 m McGraw-Hill optical telescope, the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE), the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope, and the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS). The RXTE and VERITAS observations were spread over a 13 day period and revealed clear evidence for flux variability, and a strong X-ray and gamma-ray flare on 2009 February 26 (MJD 54888). The campaign delivered a well-sampled broadband energy spectrum with simultaneous RXTE and VERITAS very high energy (VHE, > 100 GeV) observations, as well as contemporaneous optical and Fermi observations. The 1ES 1218+30.4 broadband energy spectrum-the first with simultaneous X-ray and VHE gamma-ray energy spectra-is of particular interest as the source is located at a high cosmological redshift for a VHE source (z = 0.182), leading to strong absorption of VHE gamma rays by photons from the optical/infrared extragalactic background light (EBL) via gamma VHE +gamma EBL -> e(+) e(-)pair-creation processes. We model the data with a one-zone synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) emission model and with the extragalactic absorption predicted by several recent EBL models. We find that the observations are consistent with the SSC scenario and all the EBL models considered in this work. We discuss observational and theoretical avenues to improve on the EBL constraints.
Aliu, E. ; Archer, A. ; Aune, T. ; Barnacka, Anna ; Behera, B. ; Beilicke, M. ; Benbow, W. ; Berger, K. ; Bird, R. ; Buckley, J. H. ; Bugaev, V. ; Byrum, K. ; Cardenzana, J. V. ; Cerruti, M. ; Chen, Xuhui ; Ciupik, L. ; Connolly, M. P. ; Cui, Wei ; Dickinson, H. J. ; Dumm, J. ; Eisch, J. D. ; Errando, M. ; Falcone, A. ; Federici, Simone ; Feng, Q. ; Finley, J. P. ; Fortin, P. ; Fortson, L. ; Furniss, A. ; Galante, N. ; Gillanders, G. H. ; Griffin, S. ; Griffiths, S. T. ; Grube, J. ; Gyuk, G. ; Hakansson, Nils ; Hanna, D. ; Holder, J. ; Hughes, G. ; Humensky, T. B. ; Johnson, C. A. ; Kaaret, P. ; Kar, P. ; Kertzman, M. ; Khassen, Y. ; Kieda, D. ; Krawczynski, H. ; Krennrich, F. ; Kumar, S. ; Lang, M. J. ; Madhavan, A. ; McArthur, S. ; McCann, A. ; Meagher, K. ; Millis, J. ; Moriarty, P. ; Nieto, Daniel ; Ong, R. A. ; Orr, M. ; Otte, A. N. ; Park, N. ; Perkins, J. S. ; Pohl, Martin ; Popkow, A. ; Prokoph, H. ; Pueschel, Elisa ; Quinn, J. ; Ragan, K. ; Rajotte, J. ; Reyes, L. C. ; Reynolds, P. T. ; Richards, G. T. ; Roache, E. ; Sembroski, G. H. ; Shahinyan, K. ; Staszak, D. ; Telezhinsky, Igor O. ; Tucci, J. V. ; Tyler, J. ; Varlotta, A. ; Vassiliev, V. V. ; Wakely, S. P. ; Weinstein, A. ; Welsing, R. ; Wilhelm, Alina ; Williams, D. A. ; Zitzer, B.
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%.
Archambault, S. ; Arlen, T. ; Aune, T. ; Behera, B. ; Beilicke, M. ; Benbow, W. ; Bird, R. ; Bouvier, A. ; Buckley, J. H. ; Bugaev, V. ; Byrum, K. ; Cesarini, A. ; Ciupik, L. ; Connolly, M. P. ; Cui, W. ; Errando, M. ; Falcone, A. ; Federici, Simone ; Feng, Q. ; Finley, J. P. ; Fortson, L. ; Furniss, A. ; Galante, N. ; Gall, D. ; Gillanders, G. H. ; Griffin, S. ; Grube, J. ; Gyuk, G. ; Hanna, D. ; Holder, J. ; Hughes, G. ; Humensky, T. B. ; Kaaret, P. ; Kertzman, M. ; Khassen, Y. ; Kieda, D. ; Krawczynski, H. ; Krennrich, F. ; Kumar, S. ; Lang, M. J. ; Madhavan, A. S. ; Maier, G. ; Majumdar, P. ; McArthur, S. ; McCann, A. ; Millis, J. ; Moriarty, P. ; Mukherjee, R. ; de Bhroithe, A. O'Faolain ; Ong, R. A. ; Otte, A. N. ; Park, N. ; Perkins, J. S. ; Pohl, Martin ; Popkow, A. ; Prokoph, H. ; Quinn, J. ; Ragan, K. ; Reyes, L. C. ; Reynolds, P. T. ; Richards, G. T. ; Roache, E. ; Saxon, D. B. ; Sembroski, G. H. ; Smith, A. W. ; Staszak, D. ; Telezhinsky, Igor O. ; Theiling, M. ; Varlotta, A. ; Vassiliev, V. V. ; Vincent, S. ; Wakely, S. P. ; Weekes, T. C. ; Weinstein, A. ; Welsing, R. ; Williams, D. A. ; Zitzer, B. ; Boettcher, Markus ; Fegan, S. J. ; Fortin, P. ; Halpern, J. P. ; Kovalev, Y. Y. ; Lister, M. L. ; Liu, J. ; Pushkarev, A. B. ; Smith, P. S.
We report the detection of a new TeV gamma-ray source, VER J0521+211, based on observations made with the VERITAS imaging atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope Array. These observations were motivated by the discovery of a cluster of >30 GeV photons in the first year of Fermi Large Area Telescope observations. VER J0521+211 is relatively bright at TeV energies, with a mean photon flux of (1.93 +/- 0.13(stat) +/- 0.78(sys)) x 10(-11) cm(-2) s(-1) above 0.2 TeV during the period of the VERITAS observations. The source is strongly variable on a daily timescale across all wavebands, from optical to TeV, with a peak flux corresponding to similar to 0.3 times the steady Crab Nebula flux at TeV energies. Follow-up observations in the optical and X-ray bands classify the newly discovered TeV source as a BL Lac-type blazar with uncertain redshift, although recent measurements suggest z = 0.108. VER J0521+211 exhibits all the defining properties of blazars in radio, optical, X-ray, and gamma-ray wavelengths.
Aliu, E. ; Archambault, S. ; Behera, B. ; Berger, K. ; Beilicke, M. ; Benbow, W. ; Bird, R. ; Bouvier, A. ; Bugaev, V. ; Cerruti, M. ; Chen, Xuhui ; Ciupik, L. ; Connolly, M. P. ; Cui, W. ; Dumm, J. ; Falcone, A. ; Federici, Simone ; Feng, Q. ; Finley, J. P. ; Fortin, P. ; Fortson, L. ; Furniss, A. ; Galante, N. ; Gillanders, G. H. ; Griffin, S. ; Griffiths, S. T. ; Grube, J. ; Gyuk, G. ; Hanna, D. ; Holder, J. ; Hughes, G. ; Humensky, T. B. ; Kaaret, P. ; Kertzman, M. ; Khassen, Y. ; Kieda, D. ; Krennrich, F. ; Lang, M. J. ; Maier, G. ; Majumdar, P. ; McArthur, S. ; McCann, A. ; Moriarty, P. ; Mukherjee, R. ; de Bhroithe, A. O'Faolain ; Ong, R. A. ; Otte, A. N. ; Park, N. ; Perkins, J. S. ; Pohl, Martin ; Popkow, A. ; Prokoph, H. ; Quinn, J. ; Ragan, K. ; Rajotte, J. ; Ratliff, G. ; Reynolds, P. T. ; Richards, G. T. ; Roache, E. ; Sembroski, G. H. ; Sheidaei, F. ; Skole, C. ; Smith, A. W. ; Staszak, D. ; Telezhinsky, Igor O. ; Tyler, J. ; Varlotta, A. ; Vincent, S. ; Wakely, S. P. ; Weekes, T. C. ; Weinstein, A. ; Welsing, R. ; Zajczyk, A. ; Zitzer, B.
We present the results of a multiwavelength observational campaign on the TeV binary system LS I +61 degrees 303 with the VERITAS telescope array (>200 GeV), Fermi-LAT (0.3-300 GeV), and Swift/XRT (2-10 keV). The data were taken from 2011 December through 2012 January and show a strong detection in all three wavebands. During this period VERITAS obtained 24.9 hr of quality selected livetime data in which LS I +61 degrees 303 was detected at a statistical significance of 11.9 sigma. These TeV observations show evidence for nightly variability in the TeV regime at a post-trial significance of 3.6 sigma. The combination of the simultaneously obtained TeV and X-ray fluxes do not demonstrate any evidence for a correlation between emission in the two bands. For the first time since the launch of the Fermi satellite in 2008, this TeV detection allows the construction of a detailed MeV-TeV spectral energy distribution from LS I +61 degrees 303. This spectrum shows a distinct cutoff in emission near 4 GeV, with emission seen by the VERITAS observations following a simple power-law above 200 GeV. This feature in the spectrum of LS I +61 degrees 303, obtained from overlapping observations with Fermi-LAT and VERITAS, may indicate that there are two distinct populations of accelerated particles producing the GeV and TeV emission.
Aliu, E. ; Aune, T. ; Behera, B. ; Beilicke, M. ; Benbow, W. ; Berger, K. ; Bird, R. ; Bouvier, A. ; Buckley, J. H. ; Bugaev, V. ; Cerruti, M. ; Chen, Xuhui ; Ciupik, L. ; Connolly, M. P. ; Cui, W. ; Dumm, J. ; Dwarkadas, Vikram V. ; Errando, M. ; Falcone, A. ; Federici, Simone ; Feng, Q. ; Finley, J. P. ; Fleischhack, H. ; Fortin, P. ; Fortson, L. ; Furniss, A. ; Galante, N. ; Gillanders, G. H. ; Gotthelf, E. V. ; Griffin, S. ; Griffiths, S. T. ; Grube, J. ; Gyuk, G. ; Hanna, D. ; Holder, J. ; Hughes, G. ; Humensky, T. B. ; Johnson, C. A. ; Kaaret, P. ; Kargaltsev, O. ; Kertzman, M. ; Khassen, Y. ; Kieda, D. ; Krennrich, F. ; Lang, M. J. ; Madhavan, A. S. ; Maier, G. ; McArthur, S. ; McCann, A. ; Millis, J. ; Moriarty, P. ; Mukherjee, R. ; Nieto, D. ; Ong, R. A. ; Otte, A. N. ; Pandel, D. ; Park, N. ; Pohl, Martin ; Popkow, A. ; Prokoph, H. ; Quinn, J. ; Ragan, K. ; Rajotte, J. ; Reyes, L. C. ; Reynolds, P. T. ; Richards, G. T. ; Roache, E. ; Roberts, M. ; Sembroski, G. H. ; Shahinyan, K. ; Smith, A. W. ; Staszak, D. ; Telezhinsky, Igor O. ; Tucci, J. V. ; Tyler, J. ; Vincent, S. ; Wakely, S. P. ; Weinstein, A. ; Welsing, R. ; Wilhelm, Alina ; Williams, D. A. ; Zitzer, B.
We present very high energy (VHE) imaging of MGRO J2019+37 obtained with the VERITAS observatory. The bright extended (similar to 2 degrees) unidentified Milagro source is located toward the rich star formation region Cygnus-X. MGRO J2019+37 is resolved into two VERITAS sources. The faint, point-like source VER J2016+371 overlaps CTB 87, a filled-center remnant (SNR) with no evidence of a supernova remnant shell at the present time. Its spectrum is well fit in the 0.65-10 TeV energy range by a power-law model with photon index 2.3 +/- 0.4. VER J2019+378 is a bright extended (similar to 1 degrees) source that likely accounts for the bulk of the Milagro emission and is notably coincident with PSR J2021+3651 and the star formation region Sh 2-104. Its spectrum in the range 1-30 TeV is well fit with a power-law model of photon index 1.75 +/- 0.3, among the hardest values measured in the VHE band, comparable to that observed near Vela-X. We explore the unusual spectrum and morphology in the radio and X-ray bands to constrain possible emission mechanisms for this source.
Aliu, E. ; Aune, T. ; Barnacka, Anna ; Beilicke, M. ; Benbow, W. ; Berger, K. ; Biteau, Jonathan ; Buckley, J. H. ; Bugaev, V. ; Byrum, K. ; Cardenzana, J. V. ; Cerruti, M. ; Chen, Xuhui ; Ciupik, L. ; Connaughton, V. ; Cui, W. ; Dickinson, H. J. ; Eisch, J. D. ; Errando, M. ; Falcone, A. ; Federici, Simone ; Feng, Q. ; Finley, J. P. ; Fleischhack, H. ; Fortin, P. ; Fortson, L. ; Furniss, A. ; Galante, N. ; Gillanders, G. H. ; Griffin, S. ; Griffiths, S. T. ; Grube, J. ; Gyuk, G. ; Hakansson, Nils ; Hanna, D. ; Holder, J. ; Hughes, G. ; Humensky, T. B. ; Johnson, C. A. ; Kaaret, P. ; Kar, P. ; Kertzman, M. ; Khassen, Y. ; Kieda, D. ; Krawczynski, H. ; Krennrich, F. ; Lang, M. J. ; Madhavan, A. S. ; Maier, G. ; McArthur, S. ; McCann, A. ; Meagher, K. ; Millis, J. ; Moriarty, P. ; Mukherjee, R. ; Nieto, D. ; Ong, R. A. ; Otte, A. N. ; Park, N. ; Pohl, Martin ; Popkow, A. ; Prokoph, H. ; Pueschel, Elisa ; Quinn, J. ; Ragan, K. ; Rajotte, J. ; Reyes, L. C. ; Reynolds, P. T. ; Richards, G. T. ; Roache, E. ; Sembroski, G. H. ; Shahinyan, K. ; Smith, A. W. ; Staszak, D. ; Telezhinsky, Igor O. ; Tucci, J. V. ; Tyler, J. ; Varlotta, A. ; Vassiliev, V. V. ; Vincent, S. ; Wakely, S. P. ; Weiner, O. M. ; Weinstein, A. ; Welsing, R. ; Wilhelm, Alina ; Williams, D. A. ; Zitzer, B. ; McEnery, J. E. ; Perkins, J. S. ; Veres, P. ; Zhu, S.
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.
Aliu, E. ; Archambault, S. ; Arlen, T. ; Aune, T. ; Beilicke, M. ; Benbow, W. ; Boettcher, Markus ; Bouvier, A. ; Bradbury, S. M. ; Buckley, J. H. ; Bugaev, V. ; Byrum, K. ; Cannon, A. ; Cesarini, A. ; Ciupik, L. ; Collins-Hughes, E. ; Connolly, M. P. ; Coppi, P. ; Cui, W. ; Decerprit, G. ; Dickherber, R. ; Dumm, J. ; Errando, Manel ; Falcone, A. ; Feng, Q. ; Finley, J. P. ; Finnegan, G. ; Fortson, L. ; Furniss, A. ; Galante, N. ; Gall, D. ; Godambe, S. ; Griffin, S. ; Grube, J. ; Gyuk, G. ; Hanna, D. ; Hawkins, K. ; Holder, J. ; Huan, H. ; Hughes, G. ; Humensky, T. B. ; Kaaret, P. ; Karlsson, N. ; Kertzman, M. ; Khassen, Y. ; Kieda, D. ; Krawczynski, H. ; Krennrich, F. ; Lang, M. J. ; Lee, K. ; Madhavan, A. S. ; Maier, G. ; Majumdar, P. ; McArthur, S. ; McCann, A. ; Moriarty, P. ; Mukherjee, Reshmi ; Ong, R. A. ; Orr, M. ; Otte, A. N. ; Palma, N. ; Park, N. ; Perkins, J. S. ; Pichel, A. ; Pohl, Martin ; Prokoph, H. ; Quinn, J. ; Ragan, K. ; Reyes, L. C. ; Reynolds, P. T. ; Roache, E. ; Rose, H. J. ; Ruppel, J. ; Saxon, D. B. ; Schroedter, M. ; Sembroski, G. H. ; Sentuerk, G. D. ; Smith, A. W. ; Staszak, D. ; Telezhinsky, Igor O. ; Tesic, G. ; Theiling, M. ; Thibadeau, S. ; Tsurusaki, K. ; Varlotta, A. ; Vivier, M. ; Wakely, S. P. ; Ward, J. E. ; Weekes, T. C. ; Weinstein, A. ; Weisgarber, T. ; Williams, D. A. ; Zitzer, B. ; Fortin, P. ; Horan, D.
We report on the discovery of high-energy (HE; E > 0.1 GeV) and very high energy (VHE; E > 100 GeV) gamma-ray emission from the high-frequency-peaked BL Lac object RBS 0413. VERITAS, a ground-based gamma-ray observatory, detected VHE. rays from RBS 0413 with a statistical significance of 5.5 standard deviations (sigma) and a gamma-ray flux of (1.5 +/- 0.6(stat) +/- 0.7(syst)) x 10(-8) photons m(-2) s(-1) (similar to 1% of the Crab Nebula flux) above 250 GeV. The observed spectrum can be described by a power law with a photon index of 3.18 +/- 0.68(stat) +/- 0.30(syst). Contemporaneous observations with the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope detected HE gamma rays from RBS 0413 with a (stat)istical significance of more than 9 sigma, a power-law photon index of 1.57 +/- 0.12(stat-0.12sys')(+0.11) and a gamma-ray flux between 300 MeV and 300 GeV of (1.64 +/- 0.43(stat-0.22sys)(+ 0.31)) x 10(-5) photons m(-2) s(-1). We present the results from Fermi-LAT and VERITAS, including a spectral energy distribution modeling of the gamma-ray, quasi-simultaneous X-ray (Swift-XRT), ultraviolet (Swift-UVOT), and R-band optical (MDM) data. We find that, if conditions close to equipartition are required, both the combined synchrotron self-Compton/external-Compton and the lepto-hadronic models are preferred over a pure synchrotron self-Compton model.