Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope Observations Of Gamma-Ray Outbursts From 3C 454.3 In 2009 December And 2010 April
Abstract
The flat spectrum radio quasar 3C 454.3 underwent an extraordinary outburst in December 2009 when it became the brightest -ray source in the sky for over one week. Its daily flux measured with the Fermi Large Area Telescope at photon energies E > 100 MeV reached F100 = 22 ± 1 × 10-6 ph cm-2 s-1, representing the highest daily flux of any blazar ever recorded in high-energy -rays. It again became the brightest source in the sky in 2010 April, triggering a pointed-mode observation by Fermi. The correlated -ray temporal and spectral properties during these exceptional events are presented and discussed. The main results show flux variability over time scales less than 3 h and very mild spectral variability with an indication of gradual hardening preceding major flares. No consistent loop pattern emerged in the -ray spectral index vs flux plane. A minimum Doppler factor of ≈15 is derived, and the maximum energy of a photon from 3C 454.3 is ≈ 20 GeV. The spectral break at a few GeV is inconsistent with Klein-Nishina softening from power-law electrons scattering Lyα line radiation, and a break in the underlying electron spectrum in blazar leptonic models is implied.
- Authors:
-
- SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); et al.
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE
- Contributing Org.:
- Fermmi LAT Collaboration
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1357526
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-76SF00515
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- The Astrophysical Journal
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 721; Journal Issue: 2; Journal ID: ISSN 0004-637X
- Publisher:
- Institute of Physics (IOP)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
Citation Formats
Ackermann, M. Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope Observations Of Gamma-Ray Outbursts From 3C 454.3 In 2009 December And 2010 April. United States: N. p., 2010.
Web. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/721/2/1383.
Ackermann, M. Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope Observations Of Gamma-Ray Outbursts From 3C 454.3 In 2009 December And 2010 April. United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/721/2/1383
Ackermann, M. Thu .
"Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope Observations Of Gamma-Ray Outbursts From 3C 454.3 In 2009 December And 2010 April". United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/721/2/1383. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1357526.
@article{osti_1357526,
title = {Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope Observations Of Gamma-Ray Outbursts From 3C 454.3 In 2009 December And 2010 April},
author = {Ackermann, M.},
abstractNote = {The flat spectrum radio quasar 3C 454.3 underwent an extraordinary outburst in December 2009 when it became the brightest -ray source in the sky for over one week. Its daily flux measured with the Fermi Large Area Telescope at photon energies E > 100 MeV reached F100 = 22 ± 1 × 10-6 ph cm-2 s-1, representing the highest daily flux of any blazar ever recorded in high-energy -rays. It again became the brightest source in the sky in 2010 April, triggering a pointed-mode observation by Fermi. The correlated -ray temporal and spectral properties during these exceptional events are presented and discussed. The main results show flux variability over time scales less than 3 h and very mild spectral variability with an indication of gradual hardening preceding major flares. No consistent loop pattern emerged in the -ray spectral index vs flux plane. A minimum Doppler factor of ≈15 is derived, and the maximum energy of a photon from 3C 454.3 is ≈ 20 GeV. The spectral break at a few GeV is inconsistent with Klein-Nishina softening from power-law electrons scattering Lyα line radiation, and a break in the underlying electron spectrum in blazar leptonic models is implied.},
doi = {10.1088/0004-637X/721/2/1383},
journal = {The Astrophysical Journal},
number = 2,
volume = 721,
place = {United States},
year = {2010},
month = {9}
}
Web of Science
Works referenced in this record:
Early Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope Observations of the Quasar 3c 454.3
journal, June 2009
- Abdo, A. A.; Ackermann, M.; Ajello, M.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 699, Issue 1
THE FIRST CATALOG OF ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI DETECTED BY THE FERMI LARGE AREA TELESCOPE
journal, April 2010
- Abdo, A. A.; Ackermann, M.; Ajello, M.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 715, Issue 1
PKS 1502+106: A NEW AND DISTANT GAMMA-RAY BLAZAR IN OUTBURST DISCOVERED BY THE FERMI LARGE AREA TELESCOPE
journal, January 2010
- Abdo, A. A.; Ackermann, M.; Ajello, M.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 710, Issue 1
SPECTRAL PROPERTIES OF BRIGHT FERMI -DETECTED BLAZARS IN THE GAMMA-RAY BAND
journal, January 2010
- Abdo, A. A.; Ackermann, M.; Ajello, M.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 710, Issue 2
FERMI OBSERVATIONS OF GRB 090510: A SHORT-HARD GAMMA-RAY BURST WITH AN ADDITIONAL, HARD POWER-LAW COMPONENT FROM 10 keV TO GeV ENERGIES
journal, May 2010
- Ackermann, M.; Asano, K.; Atwood, W. B.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 716, Issue 2
THE LARGE AREA TELESCOPE ON THE FERMI GAMMA-RAY SPACE TELESCOPE MISSION
journal, May 2009
- Atwood, W. B.; Abdo, A. A.; Ackermann, M.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 697, Issue 2
Correlated Variability in the Blazar 3c 454.3
journal, May 2009
- Bonning, E. W.; Bailyn, C.; Urry, C. M.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 697, Issue 2
Recollimation and Radiative Focusing of Relativistic Jets: Applications to Blazars and m87
journal, June 2009
- Bromberg, Omer; Levinson, Amir
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 699, Issue 2
On the Beaming Statistics of Gamma-Ray Sources
journal, June 1995
- Dermer, Charles D.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 446
X-Ray Synchrotron Spectral Hardenings from Compton and Synchrotron Losses in Extended [ITAL]Chandra[/ITAL] Jets
journal, April 2002
- Dermer, Charles D.; Atoyan, Armen M.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 568, Issue 2
Gamma-ray-loud blazars and beaming
journal, April 1995
- Dondi, Laura; Ghisellini, Gabriele
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 273, Issue 3
The discrete correlation function - A new method for analyzing unevenly sampled variability data
journal, October 1988
- Edelson, R. A.; Krolik, J. H.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 333
ON THE BREAK IN THE FERMI -LARGE AREA TELESCOPE SPECTRUM OF 3C 454.3
journal, April 2010
- Finke, Justin D.; Dermer, Charles D.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 714, Issue 2
Synchrotron Self‐Compton Analysis of TeV X‐Ray‐Selected BL Lacertae Objects
journal, October 2008
- Finke, Justin D.; Dermer, Charles D.; Böttcher, Markus
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 686, Issue 1
A rapid and dramatic outburst in Blazar 3C 454.3 during May 2005: Optical and infrared observations with REM and AIT
journal, December 2005
- Fuhrmann, L.; Cucchiara, A.; Marchili, N.
- Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 445, Issue 1
The Combined NVSS-FIRST Galaxies (CoNFIG) sample - II. Comparison of space densities in the Fanaroff-Riley dichotomy
journal, March 2010
- Gendre, M. A.; Best, P. N.; Wall, J. V.
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
The Beaming Pattern and Spectrum of Radiation from Inverse Compton Scattering in Blazars
journal, November 2001
- Georganopoulos, M.; Kirk, J. G.; Mastichiadis, A.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 561, Issue 1
On the 2007 July flare of the blazar 3C 454.3
journal, November 2007
- Ghisellini, G.; Foschini, L.; Tavecchio, F.
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, Vol. 382, Issue 1
Swift and infra-red observations of the blazar 3C 454.3 during the giant X-ray flare of May 2005
journal, September 2006
- Giommi, P.; Blustin, A. J.; Capalbi, M.
- Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 456, Issue 3
On the masses of black holes in radio-loud quasars
journal, November 2001
- Gu, M.; Cao, X.; Jiang, D. R.
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 327, Issue 4
The Third EGRET Catalog of High‐Energy Gamma‐Ray Sources
journal, July 1999
- Hartman, R. C.; Bertsch, D. L.; Bloom, S. D.
- The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, Vol. 123, Issue 1
Polarimetric Observations of 15 Active Galactic Nuclei at High Frequencies: Jet Kinematics from Bimonthly Monitoring with the Very Long Baseline Array
journal, October 2005
- Jorstad, Svetlana G.; Marscher, Alan P.; Lister, Matthew L.
- The Astronomical Journal, Vol. 130, Issue 4
Flaring Behavior of the Quasar 3c 454.3 Across the Electromagnetic Spectrum
journal, April 2010
- Jorstad, Svetlana G.; Marscher, Alan P.; Larionov, Valeri M.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 715, Issue 1
Reverberation Mapping of High‐Luminosity Quasars: First Results
journal, April 2007
- Kaspi, Shai; Brandt, W. N.; Maoz, Dan
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 659, Issue 2
Variability patterns of synchrotron and inverse Compton emission in blazars
journal, June 1999
- Kirk, J. G.; Mastichiadis, A.
- Astroparticle Physics, Vol. 11, Issue 1-2
Prompt Optical Emission from Residual Collisions in Gamma-Ray Burst Outflows
journal, January 2008
- Li, Zhuo; Waxman, Eli
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 674, Issue 2
An Intense Gamma‐Ray Flare of PKS 1622−297
journal, February 1997
- Mattox, J. R.; Wagner, S. J.; Malkan, M.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 476, Issue 2
Klein-Nishina effects in the spectra of non-thermal sources immersed in external radiation fields
journal, November 2005
- Moderski, Rafał; Sikora, Marek; Coppi, Paolo S.
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 363, Issue 3
A structure and energy dissipation efficiency of relativistic reconfinement shocks
journal, January 2009
- Nalewajko, Krzysztof; Sikora, Marek
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 392, Issue 3
The 2009 December Gamma-Ray Flare of 3c 454.3: the Multifrequency Campaign
journal, June 2010
- Pacciani, L.; Vittorini, V.; Tavani, M.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 716, Issue 2
On Uncertainties in Cross‐Correlation Lags and the Reality of Wavelength‐dependent Continuum Lags in Active Galactic Nuclei
journal, June 1998
- Peterson, Bradley M. ; Wanders, Ignaz ; Horne, Keith
- Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Vol. 110, Issue 748
First AGILE catalog of high-confidence gamma-ray sources
journal, September 2009
- Pittori, C.; Verrecchia, F.; Chen, A. W.
- Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 506, Issue 3
GeV BREAKS IN BLAZARS AS A RESULT OF GAMMA-RAY ABSORPTION WITHIN THE BROAD-LINE REGION
journal, June 2010
- Poutanen, Juri; Stern, Boris
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 717, Issue 2
Jet opening angles and gamma-ray brightness of AGN
journal, October 2009
- Pushkarev, A. B.; Kovalev, Y. Y.; Lister, M. L.
- Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 507, Issue 2
Constraining Emission Models of Luminous Blazar Sources
journal, September 2009
- Sikora, Marek; Stawarz, Łukasz; Moderski, Rafał
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 704, Issue 1
The Extraordinary Gamma-Ray Flare of the Blazar 3c 454.3
journal, June 2010
- Striani, E.; Vercellone, S.; Tavani, M.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 718, Issue 1
Constraining the location of the emitting region in Fermi blazars through rapid γ-ray variability: Rapid γ-ray variability in blazars
journal, April 2010
- Tavecchio, F.; Ghisellini, G.; Bonnoli, G.
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, Vol. 405, Issue 1
Unified Schemes for Radio-Loud Active Galactic Nuclei
journal, June 1995
- Urry, C. Megan; Padovani, Paolo
- Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Vol. 107
MULTIWAVELENGTH OBSERVATIONS OF 3C 454.3. I. THE AGILE 2007 NOVEMBER CAMPAIGN ON THE “ CRAZY DIAMOND ”
journal, December 2008
- Vercellone, S.; Chen, A. W.; Vittorini, V.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 690, Issue 1
MULTIWAVELENGTH OBSERVATIONS OF 3C 454.3. III. EIGHTEEN MONTHS OF AGILE MONITORING OF THE “ CRAZY DIAMOND ”
journal, March 2010
- Vercellone, S.; D'Ammando, F.; Vittorini, V.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 712, Issue 1
The unprecedented optical outburst of the quasar 3C 454.3: The WEBT campaign of 2004–2005
journal, June 2006
- Villata, M.; Raiteri, C. M.; Balonek, T. J.
- Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 453, Issue 3
Works referencing / citing this record:
The long-lasting activity of 3C 454.3: GASP-WEBT and satellite observations in 2008–2010 ⋆⋆⋆
journal, October 2011
- Raiteri, C. M.; Villata, M.; Aller, M. F.
- Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 534
Long-term multiwavelength studies of high-redshift blazar 0836+710
journal, July 2013
- Akyuz, A.; Thompson, D. J.; Donato, D.
- Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 556
A simultaneous 3.5 and 1.3 mm polarimetric survey of active galactic nuclei in the northern sky
journal, June 2014
- Agudo, I.; Thum, C.; Gómez, J. L.
- Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 566
Long-term optical spectroscopic variations in blazar 3C 454.3
journal, October 2019
- Nalewajko, Krzysztof; Gupta, Alok C.; Liao, Mai
- Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 631
FERMI LARGE AREA TELESCOPE OBSERVATIONS OF MARKARIAN 421: THE MISSING PIECE OF ITS SPECTRAL ENERGY DISTRIBUTION
journal, July 2011
- Abdo, A. A.; Ackermann, M.; Ajello, M.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 736, Issue 2
THE SECOND CATALOG OF ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI DETECTED BY THE FERMI LARGE AREA TELESCOPE
journal, December 2011
- Ackermann, M.; Ajello, M.; Allafort, A.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 743, Issue 2
THE NUCLEAR SPECTROSCOPIC TELESCOPE ARRAY ( NuSTAR ) HIGH-ENERGY X-RAY MISSION
journal, May 2013
- Harrison, Fiona A.; Craig, William W.; Christensen, Finn E.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 770, Issue 2
A Tight Connection Between Gamma-Ray Outbursts and Parsec-Scale jet Activity in the Quasar 3c 454.3
journal, August 2013
- Jorstad, Svetlana G.; Marscher, Alan P.; Smith, Paul S.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 773, Issue 2
Constraining the Location of Gamma-Ray Flares in Luminous Blazars
journal, June 2014
- Nalewajko, Krzysztof; Begelman, Mitchell C.; Sikora, Marek
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 789, Issue 2
THE SMARTS MULTI-EPOCH OPTICAL SPECTROSCOPY ATLAS (SaMOSA): AN ANALYSIS OF EMISSION LINE VARIABILITY IN SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE FERMI BLAZARS
journal, April 2015
- Isler, Jedidah C.; Urry, C. M.; Bailyn, C.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 804, Issue 1
On the Location of the γ-Ray Outburst Emission in the bl Lacertae Object ao 0235+164 Through Observations Across the Electromagnetic Spectrum
journal, June 2011
- Agudo, Iván; Marscher, Alan P.; Jorstad, Svetlana G.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 735, Issue 1
FLARE-LIKE VARIABILITY OF THE Mg II λ2800 EMISSION LINE IN THE γ-RAY BLAZAR 3C 454.3
journal, January 2013
- León-Tavares, J.; Chavushyan, V.; Patiño-Álvarez, V.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 763, Issue 2
VERY RAPID HIGH-AMPLITUDE GAMMA-RAY VARIABILITY IN LUMINOUS BLAZAR PKS 1510–089 STUDIED WITH FERMI -LAT
journal, March 2013
- Saito, S.; Stawarz, Ł.; Tanaka, Y. T.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 766, Issue 1
Temporal correlation between the optical and γ-ray flux variations in the blazar 3C 454.3
journal, April 2019
- Rajput, Bhoomika; Stalin, C. S.; Sahayanathan, S.
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 486, Issue 2
SBS 0846+513: a new γ-ray-emitting narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy: SBS 0846+513: a new γ-ray-emitting NLS1
journal, September 2012
- D'Ammando, F.; Orienti, M.; Finke, J.
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 426, Issue 1
PKS 2123−463: a confirmed γ-ray blazar at high redshift: PKS 2123−463: a γ-ray blazar at high redshift
journal, November 2012
- D'Ammando, F.; Rau, A.; Schady, P.
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 427, Issue 1
Fermi – LARGE AREA TELESCOPE: ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND CHALLENGES
journal, January 2013
- Kamae, Tuneyoshi
- Modern Physics Letters A, Vol. 28, Issue 02
Physics of “Cold” Disk Accretion onto Black Holes Driven by Magnetized Winds
journal, January 2019
- Bogovalov, Sergey
- Galaxies, Vol. 7, Issue 1
Optical and Gamma-Ray Variability Behaviors of 3C 454.3 from 2006 to 2011
journal, March 2018
- Fan, Xu-Liang; Li, Shao-Kun; Liao, Neng-Hui
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 856, Issue 1
On the Multiwavelength Emission from CTA 102
journal, August 2018
- Gasparyan, S.; Sahakyan, N.; Baghmanyan, V.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 863, Issue 2
Fermi -Large Area Telescope Observations of the Brightest Gamma-Ray Flare Ever Detected from CTA 102
journal, October 2018
- Prince, Raj; Raman, Gayathri; Hahn, Joachim
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 866, Issue 1
The 2016 June Optical and Gamma-Ray Outburst and Optical Microvariability of the Blazar 3C 454.3
journal, April 2019
- Weaver, Zachary R.; Balonek, Thomas J.; Jorstad, Svetlana G.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 875, Issue 1
Exploring the Origin of Multiwavelength Activities of High-redshift Flat-spectrum Radio Quasar PKS 1502+106 during 2014–2018
journal, August 2019
- Ding, N.; Gu, Q. S.; Geng, X. F.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 881, Issue 2
Characteristic Variability Timescales in the Gamma-Ray Power Spectra of Blazars
journal, October 2019
- Ryan, J. L.; Siemiginowska, A.; Sobolewska, M. A.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 885, Issue 1
Long-term Variability and Correlation Study of the Blazar 3C 454.3 in the Radio, NIR, and Optical Wavebands
journal, December 2019
- Sarkar, A.; Chitnis, V. R.; Gupta, A. C.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 887, Issue 2
NuSTAR Observations and Multiwavelength Modeling of the High-redshift BL Lacertae Object 4FGL J2146.5-1344
journal, January 2020
- Rajagopal, M.; Marcotulli, L.; Ajello, M.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 889, Issue 2
Fermi – LARGE AREA TELESCOPE: ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND CHALLENGES
conference, February 2013
- Kamae, Tuneyoshi
- Proceedings of the First LeCosPA Symposium, Towards Ultimate Understanding of the Universe
Fermi Large Area Telescope Observations of Markarian 421: The Missing Piece of its Spectral Energy Distribution
text, January 2011
- A., Abdo, A. .; Ackermann, M.; Ajello, M.
- Institute of Physics