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tAliu, E. ; Archambault, S. ; Arlen, T. ; Aune, T. ; Beilicke, M. ; Benbow, W. ; Bird, R. ; Bouvier, A. ; Bradbury, S. M. ; Buckley, J. H. ; Bugaev, V. ; Byrum, K. ; Cannon, A. ; Cesarini, A. ; Ciupik, L. ; Collins-Hughes, E. ; Connolly, M. P. ; Cui, W. ; Dickherber, R. ; Duke, C. ; Dumm, J. ; Dwarkadas, Vikram V. ; Errando, M. ; Falcone, A. ; Federici, Simone ; Feng, Q. ; Finley, J. P. ; Finnegan, G. ; Fortson, L. ; Furniss, A. ; Galante, N. ; Gall, D. ; Gillanders, G. H. ; Godambe, S. ; Gotthelf, E. V. ; Griffin, S. ; Grube, J. ; Gyuk, G. ; Hanna, D. ; 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. ; Millis, J. ; Moriarty, P. ; Mukherjee, R. ; Nelson, T. ; de Bhroithe, A. O'Faolain ; Ong, R. A. ; Orr, M. ; Otte, A. N. ; Pandel, D. ; Park, N. ; Perkins, J. S. ; Pohl, Martin ; Popkow, A. ; Prokoph, H. ; Quinn, J. ; Ragan, K. ; Reyes, L. C. ; Reynolds, P. T. ; Roache, E. ; Rose, H. J. ; Ruppel, Jens ; Saxon, D. B. ; Schroedter, M. ; Sembroski, G. H. ; Sentuerk, G. D. ; Skole, C. ; Telezhinsky, Igor O. ; Tesic, G. ; Theiling, M. ; Thibadeau, S. ; Tsurusaki, K. ; Tyler, J. ; Varlotta, A. ; Vassiliev, V. V. ; Vincent, S. ; Wakely, S. P. ; Ward, J. E. ; Weekes, T. C. ; Weinstein, A. ; Weisgarber, T. ; Welsing, R. ; Williams, D. A. ; Zitzer, B.
We report the discovery of an unidentified, extended source of very-high-energy gamma-ray emission, VER J2019+407, within the radio shell of the supernova remnant SNR G78.2+2.1, using 21.4 hr of data taken by the VERITAS gamma-ray observatory in 2009. These data confirm the preliminary indications of gamma-ray emission previously seen in a two-year (2007-2009) blind survey of the Cygnus region by VERITAS. VER J2019+407, which is detected at a post-trials significance of 7.5 standard deviations in the 2009 data, is localized to the northwestern rim of the remnant in a region of enhanced radio and X-ray emission. It has an intrinsic extent of 0 degrees.23 +/- 0 degrees.03(stat-0 degrees.02sys)(+0 degrees.04) and its spectrum is well-characterized by a differential power law (dN/dE = N-0 x (E/TeV)-Gamma) with a photon index of Gamma = 2.37 +/- 0.14(stat) +/- 0.20(sys) and a flux normalization of N-0 = 1.5 +/- 0.2(stat) +/- 0.4(sys) x 10(-12) photon TeV-1 cm(-2) s(-1). This yields an integral flux of 5.2 +/- 0.8(stat) +/- 1.4(sys) x 10(-12) photon cm(-2) s(-1) above 320 GeV, corresponding to 3.7% of the Crab Nebula flux. We consider the relationship of the TeV gamma-ray emission with the GeV gamma-ray emission seen from SNR G78.2+2.1 as well as that seen from a nearby cocoon of freshly accelerated cosmic rays. Multiple scenarios are considered as possible origins for the TeV gamma-ray emission, including hadronic particle acceleration at the SNR shock.
Arlen, T. ; Aune, T. ; Beilicke, M. ; Benbow, W. ; Bouvier, A. ; Buckley, J. H. ; Bugaev, V. ; Byrum, K. ; Cannon, A. ; Cesarini, A. ; Ciupik, L. ; Collins-Hughes, E. ; Connolly, M. P. ; Cui, W. ; Dickherber, R. ; Dumm, J. ; Falcone, A. ; Federici, S. ; Feng, Q. ; Finley, J. P. ; Finnegan, G. ; Fortson, L. ; Furniss, A. ; Galante, N. ; Gall, D. ; Godambe, S. ; Griffin, S. ; Grube, J. ; Gyuk, G. ; Holder, J. ; Huan, H. ; Hughes, G. ; Humensky, T. B. ; Imran, A. ; Kaaret, P. ; Karlsson, N. ; Kertzman, M. ; Khassen, Y. ; Kieda, D. ; Krawczynski, H. ; Krennrich, F. ; Lee, K. ; Madhavan, A. S. ; Maier, G. ; Majumdar, P. ; McArthur, S. ; McCann, A. ; Moriarty, P. ; Mukherjee, R. ; Nelson, T. ; de Bhroithe, A. O'Faolain ; Ong, R. A. ; Orr, M. ; Otte, A. N. ; Park, N. ; Perkins, J. S. ; Pohl, Martin ; Prokoph, H. ; Quinn, J. ; Ragan, K. ; Reyes, L. C. ; Reynolds, P. T. ; Roache, E. ; Ruppel, J. ; Saxon, D. B. ; Schroedter, M. ; Sembroski, G. H. ; Skole, C. ; Smith, A. W. ; Telezhinsky, Igor O. ; Tesic, G. ; Theiling, M. ; Thibadeau, S. ; Tsurusaki, K. ; Varlotta, A. ; Vivier, M. ; Wakely, S. P. ; Ward, J. E. ; Weinstein, A. ; Welsing, R. ; Williams, D. A. ; Zitzer, B. ; Pfrommer, C. ; Pinzke, A.
Observations of radio halos and relics in galaxy clusters indicate efficient electron acceleration. Protons should likewise be accelerated and, on account of weak energy losses, can accumulate, suggesting that clusters may also be sources of very high energy (VHE; E > 100 GeV) gamma-ray emission. We report here on VHE gamma-ray observations of the Coma galaxy cluster with the VERITAS array of imaging Cerenkov telescopes, with complementing Fermi Large Area Telescope observations at GeV energies. No significant gamma-ray emission from the Coma Cluster was detected. Integral flux upper limits at the 99% confidence level were measured to be on the order of (2-5) x 10(-8) photonsm(-2) s(-1) (VERITAS, >220 GeV) and similar to 2 x 10(-6) photonsm(-2) s(-1) (Fermi, 1-3GeV), respectively. We use the gamma-ray upper limits to constrain cosmic rays (CRs) and magnetic fields in Coma. Using an analytical approach, the CR-to-thermal pressure ratio is constrained to be < 16% from VERITAS data and <1.7% from Fermi data (averaged within the virial radius). These upper limits are starting to constrain the CR physics in self-consistent cosmological cluster simulations and cap the maximum CR acceleration efficiency at structure formation shocks to be <50%. Alternatively, this may argue for non-negligible CR transport processes such as CR streaming and diffusion into the outer cluster regions. Assuming that the radio-emitting electrons of the Coma halo result from hadronic CR interactions, the observations imply a lower limit on the central magnetic field in Coma of similar to(2-5.5) mu G, depending on the radial magnetic field profile and on the gamma-ray spectral index. Since these values are below those inferred by Faraday rotation measurements in Coma (for most of the parameter space), this renders the hadronic model a very plausible explanation of the Coma radio halo. Finally, since galaxy clusters are dark matter (DM) dominated, the VERITAS upper limits have been used to place constraints on the thermally averaged product of the total self-annihilation cross section and the relative velocity of the DM particles, <sigma nu >.
Archer, A. ; Benbow, W. ; Bird, R. ; Buchovecky, M. ; Buckley, J. H. ; Bugaev, V. ; Byrum, K. ; Cardenzana, J. V. ; Cerruti, M. ; Chen, Xuhui ; Ciupik, L. ; Collins-Hughes, E. ; Connolly, M. P. ; Eisch, J. D. ; Falcone, A. ; Feng, Q. ; Finley, J. P. ; Fleischhack, H. ; Flinders, A. ; Fortson, L. ; Furniss, A. ; Gillanders, G. H. ; Griffin, S. ; Grube, J. ; Gyuk, G. ; Hakansson, Nils ; Hanna, D. ; Holder, J. ; Humensky, T. B. ; Huetten, M. ; Johnson, C. A. ; Kaaret, P. ; Kar, P. ; Kelley-Hoskins, N. ; Kertzman, M. ; Kieda, D. ; Krause, M. ; Krennrich, F. ; Kumar, S. ; Lang, M. J. ; McArthur, S. ; McCann, A. ; Meagher, K. ; Millis, J. ; Moriarty, P. ; Mukherjee, R. ; Nieto, D. ; Ong, R. A. ; Park, N. ; Pelassa, V. ; Pohl, Martin ; Popkow, A. ; Pueschel, Elisa ; Quinn, J. ; Ragan, K. ; Ratliff, G. ; Reynolds, P. T. ; Richards, G. T. ; Roache, E. ; Rousselle, J. ; Santander, M. ; Sembroski, G. H. ; Shahinyan, K. ; Smith, A. W. ; Staszak, D. ; Telezhinsky, Igor O. ; Tucci, J. V. ; Tyler, J. ; Vassiliev, V. V. ; Wakely, S. P. ; Weiner, O. M. ; Weinstein, A. ; Wilhelm, Alina ; Williams, D. A. ; Zitzer, B. ; Yusef-Zadeh, F.
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.
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. ; Beilicke, M. ; 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. ; Duke, C. ; Dumm, J. ; Errando, M. ; Falcone, A. ; Federici, Simone ; Feng, Q. ; Finley, J. 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. ; Krawczynski, H. ; Lang, M. J. ; Madhavan, A. S. ; Maier, G. ; Majumdar, P. ; McArthur, S. ; McCann, A. ; Moriarty, P. ; Mukherjee, R. ; Nieto, D. ; de Bhroithe, A. O'Faolain ; Ong, R. A. ; Otte, A. N. ; Pandel, D. ; Park, N. ; Perkins, J. S. ; Pohl, Martin ; Popkow, A. ; Prokoph, H. ; 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. ; Vincent, S. ; Wakely, S. P. ; Weekes, T. C. ; Weinstein, A. ; Williams, D. A. ; Zitzer, B. ; McCollough, M. L.
We report results from TeV gamma-ray observations of the microquasar Cygnus X-3. The observations were made with the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) over a time period from 2007 June 11 to 2011 November 28. VERITAS is most sensitive to gamma rays at energies between 85 GeV and 30 TeV. The effective exposure time amounts to a total of about 44 hr, with the observations covering six distinct radio/X-ray states of the object. No significant TeV gamma-ray emission was detected in any of the states, nor with all observations combined. The lack of a positive signal, especially in the states where GeV gamma rays were detected, places constraints on TeV gamma-ray production in Cygnus X-3. We discuss the implications of the results.
Archambault, S. ; Aune, T. ; Behera, B. ; Beilicke, M. ; Benbow, W. ; Berger, K. ; Bird, R. ; Biteau, Jonathan ; Bugaev, V. ; Byrum, K. ; Cardenzana, J. V. ; Cerruti, M. ; Chen, Xuhui ; Ciupik, L. ; Connolly, M. P. ; Cui, Wei ; Dumm, J. ; Errando, M. ; Falcone, A. ; Federici, Simone ; Feng, Q. ; Finley, J. P. ; Fleischhack, H. ; 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. ; Johnson, C. A. ; Kaaret, P. ; Kertzman, M. ; Khassen, Y. ; Kieda, D. ; Krawczynski, H. ; Krennrich, F. ; Kumar, S. ; Lang, M. J. ; Madhavan, A. S. ; Maier, G. ; McCann, A. ; Meagher, K. ; Moriarty, P. ; Mukherjee, R. ; Nieto, Daniel ; Ong, R. A. ; Otte, A. N. ; 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. ; Sembroski, G. H. ; Shahinyan, K. ; Staszak, D. ; Telezhinsky, Igor O. ; Tucci, J. V. ; Tyler, J. ; Varlotta, A. ; Vassiliev, V. V. ; Vincent, S. ; Wakely, S. P. ; Weinstein, A. ; Welsing, R. ; Wilhelm, Alina ; Williams, D. A. ; Ackermann, Margit ; Ajello, M. ; Albert, A. ; Baldini, L. ; Bastieri, D. ; Bellazzini, R. ; Bissaldi, E. ; Bregeon, Johan ; Buehler, R. ; Buson, S. ; Caliandro, G. A. ; Cameron, R. A. ; Caraveo, P. A. ; Cavazzuti, E. ; Charles, E. ; Chiang, J. ; Ciprini, S. ; Claus, R. ; Cutini, S. ; de Angelis, A. ; de Palma, F. ; Dermer, C. D. ; Digel, S. W. ; Di Venere, L. ; Drell, P. S. ; Favuzzi, C. ; Franckowiak, A. ; Fusco, P. ; Gargano, F. ; Gasparrini, D. ; Giglietto, N. ; Giordano, F. ; Giroletti, M. ; Grenier, I. A. ; Guiriec, S. ; Jogler, T. ; Kuss, M. ; Larsson, S. ; Latronico, L. ; Longo, F. ; Loparco, F. ; Lubrano, P. ; Madejski, G. M. ; Mayer, M. ; Mazziotta, Mario Nicola ; Michelson, P. F. ; Mizuno, T. ; Monzani, M. E. ; Morselli, Aldo ; Murgia, S. ; Nuss, E. ; Ohsugi, T. ; Ormes, J. F. ; Paneque, D. ; Perkins, J. S. ; Piron, F. ; Pivato, G. ; Raino, S. ; Razzano, M. ; Reimer, A. ; Reimer, Olaf ; Ritz, S. ; Schaal, M. ; Sgro, C. ; Siskind, E. J. ; Spinelli, P. ; Takahashi, H. ; Tibaldo, L. ; Tinivella, M. ; Troja, E. ; Vianello, G. ; Werner, M. ; Wood, M.
We present deep VERITAS observations of the blazar PKS 1424+240, along with contemporaneous Fermi Large Area Telescope, Swift X-ray Telescope, and Swift UV Optical Telescope data between 2009 February 19 and 2013 June 8. This blazar resides at a redshift of z >= 0.6035, displaying a significantly attenuated gamma-ray flux above 100 GeV due to photon absorption via pair-production with the extragalactic background light. We present more than 100 hr of VERITAS observations over three years, a multiwavelength light curve, and the contemporaneous spectral energy distributions. The source shows a higher flux of (2.1 +/- 0.3) x 10(-7) photons m(-2) s(-1) above 120 GeV in 2009 and 2011 as compared to the flux measured in 2013, corresponding to (1.02 +/- 0.08) x 10-7 photons m(-2) s(-1) above 120 GeV. The measured differential very high energy (VHE; E >= 100 GeV) spectral indices are Gamma = 3.8 +/- 0.3, 4.3 +/- 0.6 and 4.5 +/- 0.2 in 2009, 2011, and 2013, respectively. No significant spectral change across the observation epochs is detected. We find no evidence for variability at gamma-ray opacities of greater than tau = 2, where it is postulated that any variability would be small and occur on timescales longer than a year if hadronic cosmic-ray interactions with extragalactic photon fields provide a secondary VHE photon flux. The data cannot rule out such variability due to low statistics.
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.
Dark matter constraints from a joint analysis of dwarf Spheroidal galaxy observations with VERITAS
(2017)
Archambault, S. ; Archer, A. ; Benbow, W. ; Bird, R. ; Bourbeau, E. ; Brantseg, T. ; Buchovecky, M. ; Buckley, J. H. ; Bugaev, V. ; Byrum, K. ; Cerruti, M. ; Christiansen, J. L. ; Connolly, M. P. ; Cui, W. ; Daniel, M. K. ; Feng, Q. ; Finley, J. P. ; Fleischhack, H. ; Fortson, L. ; Furniss, A. ; Geringer-Sameth, A. ; Griffin, S. ; Grube, J. ; Hütten, M. ; Hakansson, N. ; Hanna, D. ; Hervet, O. ; Holder, J. ; Hughes, G. ; Hummensky, B. ; Johnson, C. A. ; Kaaret, P. ; Kar, P. ; Kelley-Hoskins, N. ; Kertzman, M. ; Kieda, D. ; Koushiappas, S. ; Krause, M. ; Krennrich, F. ; Lang, M. J. ; Lin, T. T. Y. ; McArthur, S. ; Moriarty, P. ; Mukherjee, R. ; Nieto, D. ; Ong, R. A. ; Otte, A. N. ; Park, N. ; Pohl, M. ; Popkow, A. ; Pueschel, Elisa ; Quinn, J. ; Ragan, K. ; Reynolds, P. T. ; Richards, G. T. ; Roache, E. ; Rulten, C. ; Sadeh, I. ; Santander, M. ; Sembroski, G. H. ; Shahinyan, K. ; Smith, A. W. ; Staszak, D. ; Telezhinsky, Igor O. ; Trepanier, S. ; Tucci, J. V. ; Tyler, J. ; Wakely, S. P. ; Weinstein, A. ; Wilcox, P. ; Williams, D. A. ; Zitzer, B.
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.
Archambault, S. ; Archer, A. ; Benbow, W. ; Bird, R. ; Biteau, Jonathan ; Buchovecky, M. ; Buckley, J. H. ; Bugaev, V. ; Byrum, K. ; Cerruti, M. ; Chen, Xuhui ; Ciupik, L. ; Connolly, M. P. ; Cui, W. ; Eisch, J. D. ; Errando, M. ; Falcone, A. ; Feng, Q. ; Finley, J. P. ; Fleischhack, H. ; Fortin, P. ; Fortson, L. ; Furniss, A. ; Gillanders, G. H. ; Griffin, S. ; Grube, J. ; Gyuk, G. ; Huetten, M. ; Hakansson, Nils ; Hanna, D. ; Holder, J. ; Humensky, T. B. ; Johnson, C. A. ; Kaaret, P. ; Kar, P. ; Kelley-Hoskins, N. ; Kertzman, M. ; Kieda, D. ; Krause, M. ; Krennrich, F. ; Kumar, S. ; Lang, M. J. ; Maier, G. ; McArthur, S. ; McCann, A. ; Meagher, K. ; Moriarty, P. ; Mukherjee, R. ; Nguyen, T. ; Nieto, D. ; Ong, R. A. ; Otte, A. N. ; Park, N. ; Perkins, J. S. ; Pichel, A. ; Pohl, Martin ; Popkow, A. ; Pueschel, Elisa ; Quinn, J. ; Ragan, K. ; Reynolds, P. T. ; Richards, G. T. ; Roache, E. ; Rovero, A. C. ; Santander, M. ; Sembroski, G. H. ; Shahinyan, K. ; Smith, A. W. ; Staszak, D. ; Telezhinsky, Igor O. ; Tucci, J. V. ; Tyler, J. ; Vincent, S. ; Wakely, S. P. ; Weiner, O. M. ; Weinstein, A. ; Williams, D. A. ; Zitzer, B. ; Fumagalli, M. ; Prochaska, J. X.
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.
Archambault, S. ; Archer, A. ; Aune, T. ; Barnacka, Anna ; Benbow, W. ; Bird, R. ; Buchovecky, M. ; Buckley, J. H. ; Bugaev, V. ; Byrum, K. ; Cardenzana, J. V. ; Cerruti, M. ; Chen, Xuhui ; Ciupik, L. ; Collins-Hughes, E. ; Connolly, M. P. ; Cui, W. ; Dickinson, H. J. ; Dumm, J. ; Eisch, J. D. ; Falcone, A. ; Feng, Q. ; Finley, J. P. ; Fleischhack, H. ; Flinders, A. ; Fortin, P. ; Fortson, L. ; Furniss, A. ; Gillanders, G. H. ; Griffin, S. ; Grube, J. ; Gyuk, G. ; Huetten, M. ; Hakansson, Nils ; Hanna, D. ; Holder, J. ; Humensky, T. B. ; Johnson, C. A. ; Kaaret, P. ; Kar, P. ; Kelley-Hoskins, N. ; Kertzman, M. ; Khassen, Y. ; Kieda, D. ; Krause, M. ; Krennrich, F. ; Kumar, S. ; Lang, M. J. ; Maier, G. ; McArthur, S. ; McCann, A. ; Meagher, K. ; Millis, J. ; Moriarty, P. ; Mukherjee, R. ; Nieto, D. ; Ong, R. A. ; Otte, A. N. ; Pandel, D. ; Park, N. ; Pelassa, V. ; Pohl, Martin ; Popkow, A. ; Pueschel, Elisa ; Quinn, J. ; Ragan, K. ; Reynolds, P. T. ; Richards, G. T. ; Roache, E. ; Rousselle, J. ; Rulten, C. ; Santander, M. ; Sembroski, G. H. ; Shahinyan, K. ; Smith, A. W. ; Staszak, D. ; Telezhinsky, Igor O. ; Tucci, J. V. ; Tyler, J. ; Vincent, S. ; Wakely, S. P. ; Weiner, O. M. ; Weinstein, A. ; Wilhelm, Alina ; Williams, D. A. ; Zitzer, B.
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.