DISCOVERY OF VERY HIGH ENERGY gamma-RAYS FROM THE BLAZAR S5 0716+714

Journal Article · Tue Oct 20 00:00:00 EDT 2009 · Astrophysical Journal (Online)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/704/2/L129· OSTI ID:21367334

Anderhub, H; Biland, A ^[1]; Antonelli, L A ^[2]; Antoranz, P; Balestra, S; Barrio, J A ^[3]; Backes, M; Becker, J K ^[4]; Baixeras, C ^[5]; Bastieri, D; Bock, R K ^[6]; Becerra Gonzalez, J ^[7]; Bednarek, W; Berger, K ^[8]; Berdyugin, A ^[9]; Bernardini, E ^[10]; Bonnoli, G ^[11]; Bordas, P; Bosch-Ramon, V ^[12]

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1. ETH Zurich, CH-8093 (Switzerland)
2. INAF National Institute for Astrophysics, I-00136 Rome (Italy)
3. Universidad Complutense, E-28040 Madrid (Spain)
4. Technische Universitaet Dortmund, D-44221 Dortmund (Germany)
5. Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, E-08193 Bellaterra (Spain)
6. Universita di Padova and INFN, I-35131 Padova (Italy)
7. Inst. de AstrofIsica de Canarias, E-38200 La Laguna, Tenerife (Spain)
8. University of Lodz, PL-90236 Lodz (Poland)
9. Tuorla Observatory, University of Turku, FI-21500 Piikkioe (Finland)
10. Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), D-15738 Zeuthen (Germany)
11. Universita di Siena, and INFN Pisa, I-53100 Siena (Italy)
12. Universitat de Barcelona (ICC/IEEC), E-08028 Barcelona (Spain)

The MAGIC Collaboration reports the detection of the blazar S5 0716+714 (z = 0.31 +- 0.08) in very high energy gamma rays. The observations were performed in 2007 November and in 2008 April, and were triggered by the Kungliga Vetenskapliga Akademi telescope due to the high optical state of the object. An overall significance of the signal accounts to S = 5.8sigma for 13.1 hr of data. Most of the signal (S = 6.9sigma) comes from the 2008 April data sample during a higher optical state of the object suggesting a possible correlation between the Very High Energy gamma-ray and optical emissions. The differential energy spectrum of the 2008 data sample follows a power law with a photon index of GAMMA = 3.45 +- 0.54{sub stat} +- 0.2{sub syst}, and the integral flux above 400 GeV is at the level of (7.5 +- 2.2{sub stat} +- 2.3{sub syst}) x 10{sup -12} cm{sup -2} s{sup -1}, corresponding to a 9% Crab Nebula flux. Modeling of the broadband spectral energy distribution indicates that a structured jet model appears to be more promising in describing the available data than a simple one-zone synchrotron self-Compton model.

• OSTI ID: 21367334
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal (Online), Vol. 704, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/704/2/L129; ISSN 1538-4357
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
BL LACERTAE OBJECTS
CRAB NEBULA
EMISSION
ENERGY SPECTRA
GAMMA RADIATION
INTEGRALS
JET MODEL
PHOTONS
SIGNALS
SIMULATION
TELESCOPES
BOSONS
COSMIC RADIO SOURCES
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
IONIZING RADIATIONS
MASSLESS PARTICLES
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
NEBULAE
PARTICLE MODELS
RADIATIONS
SPECTRA
SUPERNOVA REMNANTS