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Title: FERMI LARGE AREA TELESCOPE GAMMA-RAY DETECTION OF THE RADIO GALAXY M87

Abstract

We report the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) discovery of high-energy (MeV/GeV) gamma-ray emission positionally consistent with the center of the radio galaxy M87, at a source significance of over 10sigma in 10 months of all-sky survey data. Following the detections of Cen A and Per A, this makes M87 the third radio galaxy seen with the LAT. The faint point-like gamma-ray source has a >100 MeV flux of 2.45 (+-0.63) x 10{sup -8} photons cm{sup -2} s{sup -1} (photon index = 2.26 +- 0.13) with no significant variability detected within the LAT observation. This flux is comparable with the previous EGRET upper limit (<2.18 x 10{sup -8} photons cm{sup -2} s{sup -1}, 2sigma), thus there is no evidence for a significant MeV/GeV flare on decade timescales. Contemporaneous Chandra and Very Long Baseline Array data indicate low activity in the unresolved X-ray and radio core relative to previous observations, suggesting M87 is in a quiescent overall level over the first year of Fermi-LAT observations. The LAT gamma-ray spectrum is modeled as synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) emission from the electron population producing the radio-to-X-ray emission in the core. The resultant SSC spectrum extrapolates smoothly from the LAT band to the historical-minimum TeVmore » emission. Alternative models for the core and possible contributions from the kiloparsec-scale jet in M87 are considered, and cannot be excluded.« less

Authors:
 [1]; ; ; ; ; ; ;  [2];  [3];  [4]; ; ; ;  [5];  [6];  [7];  [8];  [9];  [10];  [11]
  1. Space Science Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375 (United States)
  2. W. W. Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory, Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Department of Physics and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305 (United States)
  3. Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics, Department of Physics and Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California at Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 (United States)
  4. Department of Astronomy, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm (Sweden)
  5. Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Pisa, I-56127 Pisa (Italy)
  6. Laboratoire AIM, CEA-IRFU/CNRS/Universite Paris Diderot, Service d'Astrophysique, CEA Saclay, 91191 Gif sur Yvette (France)
  7. Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Trieste, I-34127 Trieste (Italy)
  8. Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Padova, I-35131 Padova (Italy)
  9. Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Perugia, I-06123 Perugia (Italy)
  10. Dipartimento di Fisica 'M. Merlin' dell'Universita e del Politecnico di Bari, I-70126 Bari (Italy)
  11. Laboratoire Leprince-Ringuet, Ecole polytechnique, CNRS/IN2P3, Palaiseau (France)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
21389341
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Astrophysical Journal
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 707; Journal Issue: 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/707/1/55; Journal ID: ISSN 0004-637X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS; 79 ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY; ELECTRONS; EMISSION; GAMMA DETECTION; GAMMA RADIATION; GAMMA SOURCES; GAMMA SPECTRA; GEV RANGE; MEV RANGE; PHOTONS; RADIO GALAXIES; TELESCOPES; TEV RANGE; BOSONS; COSMIC RADIO SOURCES; DETECTION; ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION; ELEMENTARY PARTICLES; ENERGY RANGE; FERMIONS; GALAXIES; IONIZING RADIATIONS; LEPTONS; MASSLESS PARTICLES; RADIATION DETECTION; RADIATION SOURCES; RADIATIONS; SPECTRA

Citation Formats

Abdo, A A, Ackermann, M, Ajello, M, Bechtol, K, Berenji, B, Blandford, R D, Bloom, E D, Borgland, A W, Atwood, W B, Axelsson, M, Baldini, L, Bellazzini, R, Bregeon, J, Brez, A, Ballet, J, Barbiellini, G, Bastieri, D, Bonamente, E, Brigida, M, and Bruel, P. FERMI LARGE AREA TELESCOPE GAMMA-RAY DETECTION OF THE RADIO GALAXY M87. United States: N. p., 2009. Web. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/707/1/55.
Abdo, A A, Ackermann, M, Ajello, M, Bechtol, K, Berenji, B, Blandford, R D, Bloom, E D, Borgland, A W, Atwood, W B, Axelsson, M, Baldini, L, Bellazzini, R, Bregeon, J, Brez, A, Ballet, J, Barbiellini, G, Bastieri, D, Bonamente, E, Brigida, M, & Bruel, P. FERMI LARGE AREA TELESCOPE GAMMA-RAY DETECTION OF THE RADIO GALAXY M87. United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/707/1/55
Abdo, A A, Ackermann, M, Ajello, M, Bechtol, K, Berenji, B, Blandford, R D, Bloom, E D, Borgland, A W, Atwood, W B, Axelsson, M, Baldini, L, Bellazzini, R, Bregeon, J, Brez, A, Ballet, J, Barbiellini, G, Bastieri, D, Bonamente, E, Brigida, M, and Bruel, P. 2009. "FERMI LARGE AREA TELESCOPE GAMMA-RAY DETECTION OF THE RADIO GALAXY M87". United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/707/1/55.
@article{osti_21389341,
title = {FERMI LARGE AREA TELESCOPE GAMMA-RAY DETECTION OF THE RADIO GALAXY M87},
author = {Abdo, A A and Ackermann, M and Ajello, M and Bechtol, K and Berenji, B and Blandford, R D and Bloom, E D and Borgland, A W and Atwood, W B and Axelsson, M and Baldini, L and Bellazzini, R and Bregeon, J and Brez, A and Ballet, J and Barbiellini, G and Bastieri, D and Bonamente, E and Brigida, M and Bruel, P},
abstractNote = {We report the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) discovery of high-energy (MeV/GeV) gamma-ray emission positionally consistent with the center of the radio galaxy M87, at a source significance of over 10sigma in 10 months of all-sky survey data. Following the detections of Cen A and Per A, this makes M87 the third radio galaxy seen with the LAT. The faint point-like gamma-ray source has a >100 MeV flux of 2.45 (+-0.63) x 10{sup -8} photons cm{sup -2} s{sup -1} (photon index = 2.26 +- 0.13) with no significant variability detected within the LAT observation. This flux is comparable with the previous EGRET upper limit (<2.18 x 10{sup -8} photons cm{sup -2} s{sup -1}, 2sigma), thus there is no evidence for a significant MeV/GeV flare on decade timescales. Contemporaneous Chandra and Very Long Baseline Array data indicate low activity in the unresolved X-ray and radio core relative to previous observations, suggesting M87 is in a quiescent overall level over the first year of Fermi-LAT observations. The LAT gamma-ray spectrum is modeled as synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) emission from the electron population producing the radio-to-X-ray emission in the core. The resultant SSC spectrum extrapolates smoothly from the LAT band to the historical-minimum TeV emission. Alternative models for the core and possible contributions from the kiloparsec-scale jet in M87 are considered, and cannot be excluded.},
doi = {10.1088/0004-637X/707/1/55},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/21389341}, journal = {Astrophysical Journal},
issn = {0004-637X},
number = 1,
volume = 707,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Dec 10 00:00:00 EST 2009},
month = {Thu Dec 10 00:00:00 EST 2009}
}

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Works referencing / citing this record:

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γ-RAY SPECTRAL EVOLUTION OF NGC 1275 OBSERVED WITH FERMI LARGE AREA TELESCOPE
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FERMI LARGE AREA TELESCOPE OBSERVATIONS OF MISALIGNED ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI
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Characteristics of Gamma-Ray loud Blazars in the vlba Imaging and Polarimetry Survey
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BROAD-LINE RADIO GALAXIES OBSERVED WITH FERMI -LAT: THE ORIGIN OF THE GeV γ-RAY EMISSION
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THE SECOND CATALOG OF ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI DETECTED BY THE FERMI LARGE AREA TELESCOPE
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