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Detection of very high energy gamma-ray emission from the gravitationally lensed blazar QSO B0218+357 with the MAGIC telescopes

Journal Article · · Astronomy and Astrophysics
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QSO B0218+357 is a gravitationally lensed blazar located at a redshift of 0.944. The gravitational lensing splits the emitted radiation into two components that are spatially indistinguishable by gamma-ray instruments, but separated by a 10–12 day delay. In July 2014, QSO B0218+357 experienced a violent flare observed by the Fermi-LAT and followed by the MAGIC telescopes. The spectral energy distribution of QSO B0218+357 can give information on the energetics of z ~ 1 very high energy gamma-ray sources. Furthermore, the gamma-ray emission can also be used as a probe of the extragalactic background light at z ~ 1. MAGIC performed observations of QSO B0218+357 during the expected arrival time of the delayed component of the emission. The MAGIC and Fermi-LAT observations were accompanied by quasi-simultaneous optical data from the KVA telescope and X-ray observations by Swift-XRT. We construct a multiwavelength spectral energy distribution of QSO B0218+357 and use it to model the source. The GeV and sub-TeV data obtained by Fermi-LAT and MAGIC are used to set constraints on the extragalactic background light. We detected very high energy gamma-ray emission from the direction of QSO B0218+357 by the MAGIC telescopes during the expected time of arrival of the trailing component of the flare, making it the farthest very high energy gamma-ray source detected to date. We also observed emission spans the energy range from 65 to 175 GeV. The combined MAGIC and Fermi-LAT spectral energy distribution of QSO B0218+357 is consistent with current extragalactic background light models. The broadband emission can be modeled in the framework of a two-zone external Compton scenario, where the GeV emission comes from an emission region in the jet, located outside the broad line region.
Research Organization:
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Contributing Organization:
Fermi LAT Collaboration
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-76SF00515
OSTI ID:
1355716
Journal Information:
Astronomy and Astrophysics, Journal Name: Astronomy and Astrophysics Vol. 595; ISSN 0004-6361
Publisher:
EDP SciencesCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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MAGIC gamma-ray and multifrequency observations of flat spectrum radio quasar PKS 1510-089 in early 2012 text January 2014
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Microlensing constraint on the size of the gamma-ray emission region in blazar B0218+357 text January 2015
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Luminous and high-frequency peaked blazars: the origin of the γ -ray emission from PKS 1424+240 journal October 2017
Detection of persistent VHE gamma-ray emission from PKS 1510–089 by the MAGIC telescopes during low states between 2012 and 2017 journal November 2018
Study of the variable broadband emission of Markarian 501 during the most extreme Swift X-ray activity journal May 2020
The large gamma-ray flare of the flat-spectrum radio quasar PKS 0346−27 journal July 2019
Fermi-LAT high-z active galactic nuclei and the extragalactic background light journal May 2017
Measurement of the extragalactic background light using MAGIC and Fermi-LAT gamma-ray observations of blazars up to z = 1 journal April 2019
Luminous and high-frequency peaked blazars: the origin of the $\gamma$-ray emission from PKS 1424+240 text January 2017
Detection of persistent VHE gamma-ray emission from PKS 1510-089 by the MAGIC telescopes during low states between 2012 and 2017 text January 2018
The VHE $\gamma$-Ray View of the FSRQ PKS 1510-089 text January 2019
Measurement of the extragalactic background light using MAGIC and Fermi-LAT gamma-ray observations of blazars up to z = 1 text January 2019
Measurement of the extragalactic background light spectral energy distribution with VERITAS text January 2019
Measurement of the extragalactic background light spectral energy distribution with VERITAS text January 2019
Monitoring the Extragalactic High Energy Sky journal January 2019
The VHE γ-Ray View of the FSRQ PKS 1510-089 journal March 2019
Relativistic Jets in Gamma-Ray-Emitting Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 Galaxies journal November 2019
On the Redshift of TeV BL Lac Objects journal March 2017
Measurement of the Extragalactic Background Light Spectral Energy Distribution with VERITAS journal November 2019

Figures / Tables (8)