Insights into the emission of the blazar 1ES 1011+496 through unprecedented broadband observations during 2011 and 2012

Journal Article · Thu Jun 02 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Astronomy and Astrophysics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201527176· OSTI ID:1355701

Aleksić, J.; Ansoldi, S.; Antonelli, L. A.; Antoranz, P.; Arcaro, C.; Babic, A.; Bangale, P.; Barres de Almeida, U.; Barrio, J. A.; Becerra González, J.; Bednarek, W.; Bernardini, E.; Biasuzzi, B.; Biland, A.; Blanch, O.; Bonnefoy, S.; Bonnoli, G.; Borracci, F.; Bretz, T.; Carmona, E. ; Carosi, A.; Colin, P.; Colombo, E.; Contreras, J. L.; Cortina, J.; Covino, S.; Da Vela, P.; Dazzi, F.; De Angelis, A.; De Caneva, G.; De Lotto, B.; de Oña Wilhelmi, E.; Delgado Mendez, C.; Di Pierro, F.; Dominis Prester, D.; Dorner, D.; Doro, M.; Einecke, S.; Eisenacher, D.; Elsaesser, D.; Fernández-Barral, A.; Fidalgo, D.; Fonseca, M. V.; Font, L.; Frantzen, K.; Fruck, C.; Galindo, D.; García López, R. J.; Garczarczyk, M.; Garrido Terrats, D.; Gaug, M.; Godinović, N.; González Muñoz, A.; Gozzini, S. R.; Hadasch, D.; Hanabata, Y.; Hayashida, M.; Herrera, J.; Hose, J.; Hrupec, D.; Idec, W.; Kadenius, V.; Kellermann, H.; Knoetig, M. L.; Kodani, K.; Konno, Y.; Krause, J.; Kubo, H.; Kushida, J.; La Barbera, A.; Lelas, D.; Lewandowska, N.; Lindfors, E.; Lombardi, S.; Longo, F.; López, M.; López-Coto, R.; López-Oramas, A.; Lorenz, E.; Lozano, I.; Makariev, M.; Mallot, K.; Maneva, G.; Mannheim, K.; Maraschi, L.; Marcote, B.; Mariotti, M.; Martínez, M.; Mazin, D.; Menzel, U.; Miranda, J. M.; Mirzoyan, R.; Moralejo, A.; Munar-Adrover, P.; Nakajima, D.; Neustroev, V.; Niedzwiecki, A.; Nievas Rosillo, M.; Nilsson, K.; Nishijima, K.; Noda, K.; Orito, R.; Overkemping, A.; Paiano, S.; Palatiello, M.; Paneque, D.; Paoletti, R.; Paredes, J. M.; Paredes-Fortuny, X.; Persic, M.; Poutanen, J.; Prada Moroni, P. G.; Prandini, E.; Puljak, I.; Reinthal, R.; Rhode, W.; Ribó, M.; Rico, J.; Rodriguez Garcia, J.; Saito, T.; Saito, K.; Satalecka, K.; Scalzotto, V.; Scapin, V.; Schweizer, T.; Shore, S. N.; Sillanpää, A.; Sitarek, J.; Snidaric, I.; Sobczynska, D.; Stamerra, A.; Steinbring, T.; Strzys, M.; Takalo, L.; Takami, H.; Tavecchio, F.; Temnikov, P.; Terzić, T.; Tescaro, D.; Teshima, M.; Thaele, J.; Torres, D. F.; Toyama, T.; Treves, A.; Vogler, P.; Will, M.; Zanin, R.; Buson, S.; D’Ammando, F.; Lähteenmäki, A.; Hovatta, T.; Kovalev, Y. Y.; Lister, M. L.; Max-Moerbeck, W.; Mundell, C.; Pushkarev, A. B.; Rastorgueva-Foi, E.; Readhead, A. C. S.; Richards, J. L.; Tammi, J.; Sanchez, D. A.; Tornikoski, M.; Savolainen, T.; Steele, I.

1ES 1011+496 (z = 0.212) was discovered in very high-energy (VHE, E> 100 GeV) γ rays with MAGIC in 2007. The absence of simultaneous data at lower energies led to an incomplete characterization of the broadband spectral energy distribution (SED). In this paper, we study the source properties and the emission mechanisms, probing whether a simple one-zone synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) scenario is able to explain the observed broadband spectrum. We analyzed data in the range from VHE to radio data from 2011 and 2012 collected by MAGIC, Fermi-LAT, Swift, KVA, OVRO, and Metsähovi in addition to optical polarimetry data and radio maps from the Liverpool Telescope and MOJAVE. The VHE spectrum was fit with a simple power law with a photon index of 3.69 ± 0.22 and a flux above 150 GeV of (1.46 ± 0.16) x 10^-11 ph cm^-2s^-1. The source 1ES 1011+496 was found to be in a generally quiescent state at all observed wavelengths, showing only moderate variability from radio to X-rays. A low degree of polarization of less than 10% was measured in optical, while some bright features polarized up to 60% were observed in the radio jet. A similar trend in the rotation of the electric vector position angle was found in optical and radio. The radio maps indicated a superluminal motion of 1.8 ± 0.4 c, which is the highest speed statistically significant measured so far in a high-frequency-peaked BL Lac. For the first time, the high-energy bump in the broadband SED of 1ES 1011+496 could be fully characterized from 0.1 GeV to 1 TeV, which permitted a more reliable interpretation within the one-zone SSC scenario. Finally, the polarimetry data suggest that at least part of the optical emission has its origin in some of the bright radio features, while the low polarization in optical might be due to the contribution of parts of the radio jet with different orientations of the magnetic field with respect to the optical emission.

• Research Organization: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF); Max Planck Society (MPG) (Germany); National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN) (Italy); National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) (Italy); Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF); Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (MINECO) (Spain); Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) (Japan); Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) (Japan); Academy of Finland; Croatian Science Foundation (HrZZ) (Croatia); Univ. of Rijeka (Croatia); German Research Foundation (DFG); Ministry of Science and Higher Education (MNiSzW) (Poland)
• Contributing Organization: Fermi LAT Collaboration
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-76SF00515; NNX08AW31G; NNX11A043G; AST-0808050; AST-1109911; FPA2012-39502; NNX12A087; 745/N-HESS-MAGIC/2010/0; SFB823/C4; SFB876/C3; 268740; SEV-2012-0234; CPAN CSD2007-00042; CSD2009-00064
• OSTI ID: 1355701
• Journal Information: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Vol. 591; ISSN 0004-6361
• Publisher: EDP Sciences
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
BL Lacertae objects: individual: 1ES 1011+496
galaxies: active
galaxies: jets
radiation mechanisms: non-thermal
gamma rays: galaxies