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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.
HESS J1943+213
(2018)
HESS J1943+213 is a very high energy (VHE; > 100 GeV) gamma-ray source in the direction of the Galactic plane. Studies exploring the classification of the source are converging toward its identification as an extreme synchrotron BL Lac object. Here we present 38 hr of VERITAS observations of HESS J1943+213 taken over 2 yr. The source is detected with a significance of similar to 20 standard deviations, showing a remarkably stable flux and spectrum in VHE gamma-rays. Multifrequency Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) observations of the source confirm the extended, jet-like structure previously found in the 1.6 GHz band with the European VLBI Network and detect this component in the 4.6 and 7.3 GHz bands. The radio spectral indices of the core and the jet and the level of polarization derived from the VLBA observations are in a range typical for blazars. Data from VERITAS, Fermi-LAT, Swift-XRT, the FLWO 48 ' telescope, and archival infrared and hard X-ray observations are used to construct and model the spectral energy distribution (SED) of the source with a synchrotron self-Compton model. The well-measured gamma-ray peak of the SED with VERITAS and Fermi-LAT provides constraining upper limits on the source redshift. Possible contribution of secondary gamma-rays from ultra-high-energy cosmic-ray-initiated electromagnetic cascades to the gamma-ray emission is explored, finding that only a segment of the VHE spectrum can be accommodated with this process. A variability search is performed across X-ray and gamma-ray bands. No statistically significant flux or spectral variability is detected.
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%.