Published March 10, 2009 | Version v1
Journal article Metadata-only

VERITAS OBSERVATIONS OF A VERY HIGH ENERGY γ-RAY FLARE FROM THE BLAZAR 3C 66A

Creators

  • 1. Department of Life and Physical Sciences, Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, Dublin Road, Galway (Ireland)
  • 2. Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Bartol Research Institute, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716 (United States)
  • 3. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095 (United States)
  • 4. Department of Physics, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130 (United States)
  • 5. Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Amado, AZ 85645 (United States)
  • 6. Astrophysical Institute, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Ohio University, Athens, OH 45701 (United States)
  • 7. School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT (United Kingdom)
  • 8. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)
  • 9. Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 S. Cass Avenue, Argonne, IL 60439 (United States)
  • 10. School of Physics, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4 (Ireland)
  • 11. School of Physics, National University of Ireland, Galway (Ireland)
  • 12. Astronomy Department, Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum, Chicago, IL 60605 (United States)
  • 13. Physics Department, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 2T8 (Canada)
  • 14. Department of Physics, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907 (United States)

Description

The intermediate-frequency peaked BL Lacertae (IBL) object 3C 66A is detected during 2007-2008 in VHE (very high energy; E > 100 GeV) γ rays with the VERITAS stereoscopic array of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes. An excess of 1791 events is detected, corresponding to a significance of 21.2 standard deviations (σ), in these observations (32.8 hr live time). The observed integral flux above 200 GeV is 6% of the Crab Nebula's flux and shows evidence for variability on the timescale of days. The measured energy spectrum is characterized by a soft power law with photon index Γ = 4.1 ± 0.4stat ± 0.6sys. The radio galaxy 3C 66B is excluded as a possible source of the VHE emission.

Availability note (English)

Available from http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/693/2/L104

Additional details

Identifiers

DOI
10.1088/0004-637X/693/2/L104;

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Astrophysical Journal (Online)
Journal Volume
693
Journal Issue
2
Journal Page Range
p. L104-L108
ISSN
1538-4357

INIS

Country of Publication
United States
Country of Input or Organization
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
INIS RN
41029717
Subject category
S79: ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY;
Descriptors DEI
BL LACERTAE OBJECTS; CRAB NEBULA; DEAD TIME; EMISSION; ENERGY SPECTRA; GAMMA RADIATION; PHOTONS; RADIO GALAXIES; TELESCOPES
Descriptors DEC
BOSONS; COSMIC RADIO SOURCES; ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION; ELEMENTARY PARTICLES; GALAXIES; IONIZING RADIATIONS; MASSLESS PARTICLES; NEBULAE; RADIATIONS; SPECTRA; SUPERNOVA REMNANTS; TIMING PROPERTIES