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Context. Microquasars are potential gamma-ray emitters. Indications of transient episodes of gamma-ray emission were recently reported in at least two systems: Cyg X-1 and Cyg X-3. The identification of additional gamma-ray-emitting microquasars is required to better understand how gamma-ray emission can be produced in these systems. Aims. Theoretical models have predicted very high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray emission from microquasars during periods of transient outburst. Observations reported herein were undertaken with the objective of observing a broadband flaring event in the gamma-ray and X-ray bands. Methods. Contemporaneous observations of three microquasars, GRS 1915+105, Circinus X-1, and V4641 Sgr, were obtained using the High Energy Spectroscopic System (H.E.S.S.) telescope array and the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) satellite. X-ray analyses for each microquasar were performed and VHE gamma-ray upper limits from contemporaneous H.E.S.S. observations were derived. Results. No significant gamma-ray signal has been detected in any of the three systems. The integral gamma-ray photon flux at the observational epochs is constrained to be I(>560 GeV) < 7.3 x 10(-13) cm(-2) S-1, I(>560 GeV) < 1.2 x 10-(12) cm s(-1), and I(>240 GeV) < 4.5 x 10(-12) cm(-2) s(-1) for GRS 1915+105, Circinus X-1, and V4641 Sgr, respectively. Conclusions. The gamma-ray upper limits obtained using H.E.S.S. are examined in the context of previous Cherenkov telescope observations of microquasars. The effect of intrinsic absorption is modelled for each target and found to have negligible impact on the flux of escaping gamma-rays. When combined with the X-ray behaviour observed using RXTE, the derived results indicate that if detectable VHE gamma-ray emission from microquasars is commonplace, then it is likely to be highly transient.
Aims. We present an extensive study of the BL Lac object Mrk 501 based on a data set collected during the multi-instrument campaign spanning from 2009 March 15 to 2009 August 1, which includes, among other instruments, MAGIC, VERITAS, Whipple 10 m, and Fermi-LAT to cover the gamma-ray range from 0.1 GeV to 20 TeV; RXTE and Swift to cover wavelengths from UV to hard X-rays; and GASP-WEBT, which provides coverage of radio and optical wavelengths. Optical polarization measurements were provided for a fraction of the campaign by the Steward and St. Petersburg observatories. We evaluate the variability of the source and interband correlations, the gamma-ray flaring activity occurring in May 2009, and interpret the results within two synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) scenarios. Methods. The multiband variability observed during the full campaign is addressed in terms of the fractional variability, and the possible correlations are studied by calculating the discrete correlation function for each pair of energy bands where the significance was evaluated with dedicated Monte Carlo simulations. The space of SSC model parameters is probed following a dedicated grid-scan strategy, allowing for a wide range of models to be tested and offering a study of the degeneracy of model-to-data agreement in the individual model parameters, hence providing a less biased interpretation than the "single-curve SSC model adjustment" typically reported in the literature. Results. We find an increase in the fractional variability with energy, while no significant interband correlations of flux changes are found on the basis of the acquired data set. The SSC model grid-scan shows that the flaring activity around May 22 cannot be modeled adequately with a one-zone SSC scenario (using an electron energy distribution with two breaks), while it can be suitably described within a two (independent) zone SSC scenario. Here, one zone is responsible for the quiescent emission from the averaged 4.5-month observing period, while the other one, which is spatially separated from the first, dominates the flaring emission occurring at X-rays and very-high-energy (> 100 GeV, VHE) gamma-rays. The flaring activity from May 1, which coincides with a rotation of the electric vector polarization angle (EVPA), cannot be satisfactorily reproduced by either a one-zone or a two-independent-zone SSC model, yet this is partially affected by the lack of strictly simultaneous observations and the presence of large flux changes on sub-hour timescales (detected at VHE gamma rays). Conclusions. The higher variability in the VHE emission and lack of correlation with the X-ray emission indicate that, at least during the 4.5-month observing campaign in 2009, the highest energy (and most variable) electrons that are responsible for the VHE gamma rays do not make a dominant contribution to the similar to 1 keV emission. Alternatively, there could be a very variable component contributing to the VHE gamma-ray emission in addition to that coming from the SSC scenario. The studies with our dedicated SSC grid-scan show that there is some degeneracy in both the one-zone and the two-zone SSC scenarios probed, with several combinations of model parameters yielding a similar model-to-data agreement, and some parameters better constrained than others. The observed gamma-ray flaring activity, with the EVPA rotation coincident with the first gamma-ray flare, resembles those reported previously for low frequency peaked blazars, hence suggesting that there are many similarities in the flaring mechanisms of blazars with different jet properties.
B2 1215+30 is a BL-Lac-type blazar that was first detected at TeV energies by the MAGIC atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes and subsequently confirmed by the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) observatory with data collected between 2009 and 2012. In 2014 February 08, VERITAS detected a large-amplitude flare from B2. 1215+30 during routine monitoring observations of the blazar 1ES. 1218+304, located in the same field of view. The TeV flux reached 2.4 times the Crab Nebula flux with a variability timescale of <3.6 hr. Multiwavelength observations with Fermi-LAT, Swift, and the Tuorla Observatory revealed a correlated high GeV flux state and no significant optical counterpart to the flare, with a spectral energy distribution where the gamma-ray luminosity exceeds the synchrotron luminosity. When interpreted in the framework of a onezone leptonic model, the observed emission implies a high degree of beaming, with Doppler factor delta > 10, and an electron population with spectral index p < 2.3.
A SEARCH FOR VERY HIGH ENERGY GAMMA RAYS FROM THE MISSING LINK BINARY PULSAR J1023+0038 WITH VERITAS
(2016)
The binary millisecond radio pulsar PSR J1023+0038 exhibits many characteristics similar to the gamma-ray binary system PSR B1259-63/LS 2883, making it an ideal candidate for the study of high-energy nonthermal emission. It has been the subject of multiwavelength campaigns following the disappearance of the pulsed radio emission in 2013 June, which revealed the appearance of an accretion disk around the neutron star. We present the results of very high energy (VHE) gamma-ray observations carried out by the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System before and after this change of state. Searches for steady and pulsed emission of both data sets yield no significant gamma-ray signal above 100 GeV, and upper limits are given for both a steady and pulsed gamma-ray flux. These upper limits are used to constrain the magnetic field strength in the shock region of the PSR J1023+0038 system. Assuming that VHE gamma rays are produced via an inverse Compton mechanism in the shock region, we constrain the shock magnetic field to be greater than similar to 2 G before the disappearance of the radio pulsar and greater than similar to 10 G afterward.
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.
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.
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.
We report on multifrequency observations performed during 2012 December-2013 August of the first narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy detected in gamma-rays, PMN J0948+0022 (z = 0.5846). A y -ray flare was observed by the Large Area Telescope on board Fermi during 2012 December-2013 January, reaching a daily peak flux in the 0.1-100 GeV energy range of (155 31) x 10 8 ph cm(-2) S-1 on 2013 January 1, corresponding to an apparent isotropic luminosity of similar to 1.5 x 1048 erg s(-1). The y -ray flaring period triggered Swift and Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) observations in addition to radio and optical monitoring by Owens Valley Radio Observatory, Monitoring Of Jets in Active galactic nuclei with VLBA Experiments, and Catalina Real-time Transient Survey. A strong flare was observed in optical, UV, and X-rays on 2012 December 30, quasi-simultaneously to the y -ray flare, reaching a record flux for this source from optical to y gamma-rays. VERITAS observations at very high energy (E > 100 GeV) during 2013 January 6-17 resulted in an upper limit of F>0.2 Trev < 4.0 x 10(-12) ph cm(-2) s(-1). We compared the spectral energy distribution (SED) of the flaring state in 2013 January with that of an intermediate state observed in 2011. The two SEDs, modelled as synchrotron emission and an external Compton scattering of seed photons from a dust torus, can be modelled by changing both the electron distribution parameters and the magnetic field.
We present the results of 71.6 hr of observations of the Geminga pulsar (PSR J0633+1746) with the VERITAS very-high-energy gamma-ray telescope array. Data taken with VERITAS between 2007 November and 2013 February were phase-folded using a Geminga pulsar timing solution derived from data recorded by the XMM-Newton and Fermi-LAT space telescopes. No significant pulsed emission above 100 GeV is observed, and we report upper limits at the 95% confidence level on the integral flux above 135 GeV (spectral analysis threshold) of 4.0x10(-13) s(-1) cm(-2) and 1.7 x 10(-13) s(-1) cm(-2) for the two principal peaks in the emission profile. These upper limits, placed in context with phase-resolved spectral energy distributions determined from 5 yr of data from the Fermi-Large Area Telescope (LAT), constrain possible hardening of the Geminga pulsar emission spectra above similar to 50 GeV.