VERITAS OBSERVATIONS OF THE UNUSUAL EXTRAGALACTIC TRANSIENT SWIFT J164449.3+573451

Journal Article · Sat Sep 10 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Astrophysical Journal Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/738/2/L30· OSTI ID:21562422

Aliu, E; Errando, M ^[1]; Arlen, T ^[2]; Aune, T; Bouvier, A ^[3]; Beilicke, M; Buckley, J H; Bugaev, V; Dickherber, R ^[4]; Benbow, W ^[5]; Boettcher, M ^[6]; Bradbury, S M ^[7]; Cannon, A; Collins-Hughes, E ^[8]; Cesarini, A; Connolly, M P ^[9]; Ciupik, L ^[10]; Cui, W; Finley, J P ^[11]; Falcone, A ^[12]

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1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Barnard College, Columbia University, NY 10027 (United States)
2. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095 (United States)
3. Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics and Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 (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. School of Physics, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4 (Ireland)
9. School of Physics, National University of Ireland Galway, University Road, Galway (Ireland)
10. Astronomy Department, Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum, Chicago, IL 60605 (United States)
11. Department of Physics, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907 (United States)
12. Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 525 Davey Lab, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 (United States)

We report on very high energy (>100 GeV) gamma-ray observations of Swift J164449.3+573451, an unusual transient object first detected by the Swift Observatory and later detected by multiple radio, optical, and X-ray observatories. A total exposure of 28 hr was obtained on Swift J164449.3+573451 with the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) during 2011 March 28-April 15. We do not detect the source and place a differential upper limit on the emission at 500 GeV during these observations of 1.4 x 10{sup -12} erg cm{sup -2} s{sup -1} (99% confidence level). We also present time-resolved upper limits and use a flux limit averaged over the X-ray flaring period to constrain various emission scenarios that can accommodate both the radio-through-X-ray emission detected from the source and the lack of detection by VERITAS.

• OSTI ID: 21562422
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 738, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/738/2/L30; ISSN 2041-8205
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
ACCRETION DISKS
EMISSION
GALAXIES
GAMMA RADIATION
X RADIATION
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
IONIZING RADIATIONS
RADIATIONS