Fermi-LAT observations of the 2014 May-July outburst from 3C 454.3
Abstract
We observed a prominent outburst of the flat spectrum radio quasar 3C 454.3 in 2014 June with the Fermi Large Area Telescope. This outburst was characterized by a three-stage light-curve pattern—plateau, flare, and post-flare—that occurred from 2014 May to July, in a similar pattern as observed during the exceptional outburst in 2010 November. The highest flux of the outburst reported in this paper occurred during 2014 June 7–29, showing a multiple-peak structure in the light-curves. The average flux in these 22 days was found to be $$F[E\gt 100\,\mathrm{MeV}]=(7.2\pm 0.2)\times {10}^{-6}$$ ph cm-2 s-1, with a spectral index, for a simple power law, of $${\rm{\Gamma }}=2.04\pm 0.01$$. That made this outburst the first γ-ray high state of 3C 454.3 ever to be detected by Fermi with such a hard spectrum over several days. The highest flux was recorded on 2014 June 15, in a 3 hr bin, at MJD 56823.5625, at a level of $$F[E\gt 100\,\mathrm{MeV}]=(17.6\pm 1.9)\times {10}^{-6}$$ ph cm-2 s-1. Furthermore, the rise time of one of the short subflares was found to be $${T}_{r}=1200\pm 700$$ s at MJD = 56827, when the flux increased from 4 to 12 × 10-6 ph cm-2 s-1. Finally, we collected several photons above 20 GeV during this outburst, including one at 45 GeV on MJD 56827, constraining the γ-ray emission region to be located close to the outer boundary of the broad-line region, leading to fast flux variability.
- Authors:
-
[1];
[3];
- Univ. of Johannesburg (South Africa). Dept. of Physics
- Stanford Univ., CA (United States). W.W. Hansen Experimental Physics Lab.
- Univ. of Bordeaux (France). Centre of Nuclear Studies of Bordeaux-Gradignan
- National Inst. of Nuclear Physics, Padova (Italy); Univ. of Padov (Italy). Dept. of Physics
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1355710
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-76SF00515
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- The Astrophysical Journal (Online)
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Name: The Astrophysical Journal (Online); Journal Volume: 830; Journal Issue: 2; Journal ID: ISSN 1538-4357
- Publisher:
- Institute of Physics (IOP)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; galaxies: active; gamma rays: galaxies; quasars: individual (3C 454.3)
Citation Formats
Britto, Richard J., Bottacini, Eugenio, Lott, Benoît, Razzaque, Soebur, and Buson, Sara. Fermi-LAT observations of the 2014 May-July outburst from 3C 454.3. United States: N. p., 2016.
Web. doi:10.3847/0004-637X/830/2/162.
Britto, Richard J., Bottacini, Eugenio, Lott, Benoît, Razzaque, Soebur, & Buson, Sara. Fermi-LAT observations of the 2014 May-July outburst from 3C 454.3. United States. https://doi.org/10.3847/0004-637X/830/2/162
Britto, Richard J., Bottacini, Eugenio, Lott, Benoît, Razzaque, Soebur, and Buson, Sara. Wed .
"Fermi-LAT observations of the 2014 May-July outburst from 3C 454.3". United States. https://doi.org/10.3847/0004-637X/830/2/162. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1355710.
@article{osti_1355710,
title = {Fermi-LAT observations of the 2014 May-July outburst from 3C 454.3},
author = {Britto, Richard J. and Bottacini, Eugenio and Lott, Benoît and Razzaque, Soebur and Buson, Sara},
abstractNote = {We observed a prominent outburst of the flat spectrum radio quasar 3C 454.3 in 2014 June with the Fermi Large Area Telescope. This outburst was characterized by a three-stage light-curve pattern—plateau, flare, and post-flare—that occurred from 2014 May to July, in a similar pattern as observed during the exceptional outburst in 2010 November. The highest flux of the outburst reported in this paper occurred during 2014 June 7–29, showing a multiple-peak structure in the light-curves. The average flux in these 22 days was found to be $F[E\gt 100\,\mathrm{MeV}]=(7.2\pm 0.2)\times {10}^{-6}$ ph cm-2 s-1, with a spectral index, for a simple power law, of ${\rm{\Gamma }}=2.04\pm 0.01$. That made this outburst the first γ-ray high state of 3C 454.3 ever to be detected by Fermi with such a hard spectrum over several days. The highest flux was recorded on 2014 June 15, in a 3 hr bin, at MJD 56823.5625, at a level of $F[E\gt 100\,\mathrm{MeV}]=(17.6\pm 1.9)\times {10}^{-6}$ ph cm-2 s-1. Furthermore, the rise time of one of the short subflares was found to be ${T}_{r}=1200\pm 700$ s at MJD = 56827, when the flux increased from 4 to 12 × 10-6 ph cm-2 s-1. Finally, we collected several photons above 20 GeV during this outburst, including one at 45 GeV on MJD 56827, constraining the γ-ray emission region to be located close to the outer boundary of the broad-line region, leading to fast flux variability.},
doi = {10.3847/0004-637X/830/2/162},
journal = {The Astrophysical Journal (Online)},
number = 2,
volume = 830,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Oct 19 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Wed Oct 19 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}
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