The atmospheric Cherenkov gamma-ray telescope MAGIC, designed for a low-energy threshold, has detected very-high-energy gamma rays from a giant flare of the distant Quasi-Stellar Radio Source (in ...short: radio quasar) 3C 279, at a distance of more than 5 billion light-years (a redshift of 0.536). No quasar has been observed previously in very-high-energy gamma radiation, and this is also the most distant object detected emitting gamma rays above 50 gigaelectron volts. Because high-energy gamma rays may be stopped by interacting with the diffuse background light in the universe, the observations by MAGIC imply a low amount for such light, consistent with that known from galaxy counts.
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The accretion of matter onto a massive black hole is believed to feed the relativistic plasma jets found in many active galactic nuclei (AGN). Although some AGN accelerate particles to energies ...exceeding 10¹² electron volts and are bright sources of very-high-energy (VHE) γ-ray emission, it is not yet known where the VHE emission originates. Here we report on radio and VHE observations of the radio galaxy Messier 87, revealing a period of extremely strong VHE γ-ray flares accompanied by a strong increase of the radio flux from its nucleus. These results imply that charged particles are accelerated to very high energies in the immediate vicinity of the black hole.
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We analyze the timing of photons observed by the MAGIC telescope during a flare of the active galactic nucleus Mkn 501 for a possible correlation with energy, as suggested by some models of quantum ...gravity (QG), which predict a vacuum refractive index ≃1+(E/MQGn)n, n=1,2. Parametrizing the delay between γ-rays of different energies as Δt=±τlE or Δt=±τqE2, we find τl=(0.030±0.012) s/GeV at the 2.5-σ level, and τq=(3.71±2.57)×10−6 s/GeV2, respectively. We use these results to establish lower limits MQG1>0.21×1018 GeV and MQG2>0.26×1011 GeV at the 95% C.L. Monte Carlo studies confirm the MAGIC sensitivity to propagation effects at these levels. Thermal plasma effects in the source are negligible, but we cannot exclude the importance of some other source effect.
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Spectral EEG analysis in hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is usually performed disregarding the effect of epoch length, statistical errors and equipment noise. A study on these items was carried out. In ...addition, spectral analysis and a new analysis, performed in time domain, were compared in the assessment of HE.
The EEG tracings of 73 cirrhotic patients with HE were analyzed. Artifact-free periods of about 1
min were selected. Equipment noise was measured by short-circuiting all the electrodes.
The equipment noise was notable below 1.5
Hz; the best epoch length was 4
s and the statistical errors were minimal for the band with the highest relative power. Nineteen per cent of the tracings were unstable. The spectral values were found to be related to liver function and to the degree of HE, whereas the relationship with psychometric variables was poor. The indexes computed by time-domain analysis were found to be better related to psychometric findings.
We have provided information on the optimisation of spectral EEG analysis and presented a time-domain analysis giving results related to psychometric tests and liver function.
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Microquasars are binary star systems with relativistic radio-emitting jets. They are potential sources of cosmic rays and can be used to elucidate the physics of relativistic jets. We report the ...detection of variable gamma-ray emission above 100 gigaelectron volts from the microquasar LS I 61 + 303. Six orbital cycles were recorded. Several detections occur at a similar orbital phase, which suggests that the emission is periodic. The strongest gamma-ray emission is not observed when the two stars are closest to one another, implying a strong orbital modulation of the emission or absorption processes.
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We report on the results from the observations in the very high energy band (VHE; unk greater than or equal to 100 GeV) of the black hole X-ray binary (BHXB) Cygnus X-1. The observations were ...performed with the MAGIC telescope, for a total of 40 hr during 26 nights, spanning the period between 2006 June and November. Searches for steady Y-ray signals yielded no positive result, and upper limits to the integral flux ranging between 1% and 2% of the Crab Nebula flux, depending on the energy, have been established. We also analyzed each observation night independently, obtaining evidence of Y-ray signals at the 4.0 sigma significance level (3.2 sigma after trial correction) for 154 minutes of effective on-time (EOT) on September 24 between 20:58 and 23:41 UTC, coinciding with an X-ray flare seen by RXTE, Swift, and INTEGRAL. A search for faster-varying signals within a night resulted in an excess with a significance of 4.9 sigma (4.1 sigma after trial correction) for 79 minutes EOT between 22:17 and 23:41 UTC. The measured excess is compatible with a pointlike source at the position of Cygnus X-1 and excludes the nearby radio nebula powered by its relativistic jet. The differential energy spectrum is well fitted by an unbroken power law described as dN/(dA dt dE) = (2.3 plus or minus 0.6) x 10- super(12)(E/1TeV) super(-3.2 plus or minus 0.6). This is the first experimental evidence of VHE emission from a stellar mass black hole and therefore from a confirmed accreting X-ray binary.
We report the detection of a new source of very high energy (VHE; unk greater than or equal to 100 Gev) Y-ray emission located close to the Galactic plane, MA J0616+225, which is spatially coincident ...with supernova remnant IC 443. The observations were carried out with the MAGIC telescope unk 2005 December-2006 January and 2006 December-2007 January. Here we present results from this source, leading to a VHE Y-ray unk statistical significance of 5.7 sigma in the 2006/2007 data and a measured differential Y-ray flux consistent with a power law, described as unk(dAdtdE) = (1.0 plus or minus 0.2) x 10 super(11)(E/0.4TeV)-3.1 plus or minus 0.3 cm super(-2) s super(-1) Tev super(-1). we briefly discuss the observational technique used and the unk implemented for the data analysis. The results are placed in the context of the multiwavelength emission and the molecular environment region of IC 443.
In this article we discuss the possibility of using the observations by GLAST of standard gamma sources, as the Crab Nebula, to calibrate imaging air Cherenkov detectors, MAGIC in particular, and ...optimise their energy resolution. We show that at around 100
GeV the absolute energy calibration uncertainty of Cherenkov telescopes can be reduced to ≲10% by means of such cross-calibration procedure.
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