We use joint observations by the Swift X-ray Telescope (XRT) and the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) of gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglows to investigate the nature of the long-lived high-energy ...emission observed by Fermi LAT. Joint broadband spectral modeling of XRT and LAT data reveals that LAT nondetections of bright X-ray afterglows are consistent with a cooling break in the inferred electron synchrotron spectrum below the LAT and/or XRT energy ranges. Such a break is sufficient to suppress the high-energy emission so as to be below the LAT detection threshold. By contrast, LAT-detected bursts are best fit by a synchrotron spectrum with a cooling break that lies either between or above the XRT and LAT energy ranges. We speculate that the primary difference between GRBs with LAT afterglow detections and the nondetected population may be in the type of circumstellar environment in which these bursts occur, with late-time LAT detections preferentially selecting GRBs that occur in low wind-like circumburst density profiles. Furthermore, we find no evidence of high-energy emission in the LAT-detected population significantly in excess of the flux expected from the electron synchrotron spectrum fit to the observed X-ray emission. The lack of excess emission at high energies could be due to a shocked external medium in which the energy density in the magnetic field is stronger than or comparable to that of the relativistic electrons behind the shock, precluding the production of a dominant synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) component in the LAT energy range. Alternatively, the peak of the SSC emission could be beyond the 0.1-100 GeV energy range considered for this analysis.
Aims. We present a study of the very high-energy (VHE; E> 100 GeV) γ-ray emission of the blazar PKS 1424+240 observed with the MAGIC telescopes. The primary aim of this paper is the multiwavelength ...spectral characterization and modeling of this blazar, which is made particularly interesting by the recent discovery of a lower limit of its redshift of z ≥ 0.6 and makes it a promising candidate to be the most distant VHE source. Methods. The source has been observed with the MAGIC telescopes in VHE γ rays for a total observation time of ~33.6 h from 2009 to 2011. A detailed analysis of its γ-ray spectrum and time evolution has been carried out. Moreover, we have collected and analyzed simultaneous and quasi-simultaneous multiwavelength data. Results. The source was marginally detected in VHE γ rays during 2009 and 2010, and later, the detection was confirmed during an optical outburst in 2011. The combined significance of the stacked sample is ~7.2σ. The differential spectra measured during the different campaigns can be described by steep power laws with the indices ranging from 3.5 ± 1.2 to 5.0 ± 1.7. The MAGIC spectra corrected for the absorption due to the extragalactic background light connect smoothly, within systematic errors, with the mean spectrum in 2009–2011 observed at lower energies by the Fermi-LAT. The absorption-corrected MAGIC spectrum is flat with no apparent turn down up to 400 GeV. The multiwavelength light curve shows increasing flux in radio and optical bands that could point to a common origin from the same region of the jet. The large separation between the two peaks of the constructed non-simultaneous spectral energy distribution also requires an extremely high Doppler factor if an one zone synchrotron self-Compton model is applied. We find that a two-component synchrotron self-Compton model describes the spectral energy distribution of the source well, if the source is located at z ~ 0.6.
We investigate the radio and γ-ray variability of the flat spectrum radio quasar PKS 1510−089 in the time range between 2010 November and 2012 January. In this period the source showed an intense ...activity, with two major γ-ray flares detected in 2011 July and October. During the latter episode both the γ-ray and the radio flux density reached their historical peak. Multiwavelength analysis shows a rotation of about 380° of the optical polarization angle close in time with the rapid and strong γ-ray flare in 2011 July. An enhancement of the optical emission and an increase of the fractional polarization both in the optical and in radio bands are observed about three weeks later, close in time with another γ-ray outburst. On the other hand, after 2011 September a huge radio outburst has been detected, first in the millimetre regime followed with some time delay at centimetre down to decimetre wavelengths. This radio flare is characterized by a rising and a decaying stage, in agreement with the formation of a shock and its evolution, as a consequence of expansion and radiative cooling. If the γ-ray flare observed in 2011 October is related to this radio outburst, then this strongly indicates that the region responsible for the γ-ray variability is not within the broad line, but a few parsecs downstream along the jet.
ABSTRACT We present the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) and Large Area Telescope (LAT) observations of the LIGO binary black hole merger event GW151226 and candidate LVT151012. At the time of the ...LIGO triggers on LVT151012 and GW151226, GBM was observing 68% and 83% of the localization regions, and LAT was observing 47% and 32%, respectively. No candidate electromagnetic counterparts were detected by either the GBM or LAT. We present a detailed analysis of the GBM and LAT data over a range of timescales from seconds to years, using automated pipelines and new techniques for characterizing the flux upper bounds across large areas of the sky. Due to the partial GBM and LAT coverage of the large LIGO localization regions at the trigger times for both events, differences in source distances and masses, as well as the uncertain degree to which emission from these sources could be beamed, these non-detections cannot be used to constrain the variety of theoretical models recently applied to explain the candidate GBM counterpart to GW150914.
Pulsars are rapidly spinning, highly magnetized neutron stars, created in the gravitational collapse of massive stars. We report the detection of pulsed giga–electron volt gamma rays from the young ...pulsar PSR J0540–6919 in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. This is the first gamma-ray pulsar detected in another galaxy. It has the most luminous pulsed gamma-ray emission yet observed, exceeding the Crab pulsar's by a factor of 20. PSR J0540–6919 presents an extreme test case for understanding the structure and evolution of neutron star magnetospheres.
The coexistence of Planck and Fermi satellites in orbit has enabled the exploration of the connection between the (sub-)millimeter and gamma -ray emission in a large sample of blazars. We find that ...the gamma -ray emission and the (sub-)mm luminosities are correlated over five orders of magnitude, L sub( gamma ) is proportional to L- sub((sub-)mm). However, this correlation is not significant at some frequency bands when simultaneous observations are considered. The most significant statistical correlations, on the other hand, arise when observations are quasi-simultaneous within two months. Moreover, we find that sources with an approximate spectral turnover in the middle of the mm-wave regime are more likely to be strong gamma -ray emitters. These results suggest a physical relation between the newly injected plasma components in the jet and the high levels of gamma -ray emission.
We present the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) and Large Area Telescope (LAT) observations of the LIGO binary black hole merger (BBH) event GW170104. No candidate electromagnetic counterpart was ...detected by either GBM or LAT. A detailed analysis of the GBM and LAT data over timescales from seconds to days covering the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) localization region is presented. The resulting flux upper bound from the GBM is (5.2-9.4) × 10−7 erg cm−2 s−1 in the 10-1000 keV range and from the LAT is (0.2-90) × 10−9 erg cm−2 s−1 in the 0.1-1 GeV range. We also describe the improvements to our automated pipelines and analysis techniques for searching for and characterizing the potential electromagnetic counterparts for future gravitational-wave events from Advanced LIGO/Virgo.
We report on multiwavelength observations of the blazar PKS 0537−441 (z = 0.896) obtained from microwaves through γ-rays by Submillimeter Array, Rapid Eye Mounting, Automatic Telescope for Optical ...Monitoring (ATOM), Swift and Fermi mostly during 2008 August-2010 April. Strong variability has been observed in γ-rays, with two major flaring episodes (2009 July and 2010 March) and a harder-when-brighter behaviour, quite common for flat spectrum radio quasars and low-synchrotron-peaked BL Lacertae objects (BL Lacs), in 2010 March. In the same way, the spectral energy distribution (SED) of the source cannot be modelled by a simple synchrotron self-Compton model, as opposed to many BL Lacs, but the addition of an external Compton component of seed photons from a dust torus is needed. The 230 GHz light curve showed an increase simultaneous with the γ-ray one, indicating co-spatiality of the mm and γ-ray emission region likely at large distance from the central engine. The low, average, and high activity SED of the source could be fit changing only the electron distribution parameters, but two breaks in the electron distribution are necessary. The ensuing extra spectral break, located at near-infrared (NIR)-optical frequencies, together with that in γ-rays seem to indicate a common origin, most likely due to an intrinsic feature in the underlying electron distribution. An overall correlation between the γ-ray band with the R band and K band has been observed with no significant time lag. On the other hand, when inspecting the light curves on short time-scales some differences are evident. In particular, flaring activity has been detected in NIR and optical bands with no evident γ-ray counterparts in 2009 September and November. Moderate variability has been observed in X-rays with no correlation between flux and photon index. An increase of the detected X-ray flux with no counterpart at the other wavelengths has been observed in 2008 October, suggesting once more a complex correlation between the emission at different energy bands.
ABSTRACT We perform a comprehensive stacking analysis of data collected by the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) of γ-ray bursts (GRBs) localized by the Swift spacecraft, which were not detected by ...the LAT but which fell within the instrument's field of view at the time of trigger. We examine a total of 79 GRBs by comparing the observed counts over a range of time intervals to that expected from designated background orbits, as well as by using a joint likelihood technique to model the expected distribution of stacked counts. We find strong evidence for subthreshold emission at MeV to GeV energies using both techniques. This observed excess is detected during intervals that include and exceed the durations typically characterizing the prompt emission observed at keV energies and lasts at least 2700 s after the co-aligned burst trigger. By utilizing a novel cumulative likelihood analysis, we find that although a burst's prompt γ-ray and afterglow X-ray flux both correlate with the strength of the subthreshold emission, the X-ray afterglow flux measured by Swift's X-ray Telescope at 11 hr post trigger correlates far more significantly. Overall, the extended nature of the subthreshold emission and its connection to the burst's afterglow brightness lend further support to the external forward shock origin of the late-time emission detected by the LAT. These results suggest that the extended high-energy emission observed by the LAT may be a relatively common feature but remains undetected in a majority of bursts owing to instrumental threshold effects.
We present the fourth Fermi Large Area Telescope catalog (4FGL) of γ-ray sources. Based on the first eight years of science data from the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope mission in the energy range ...from 50 MeV to 1 TeV, it is the deepest yet in this energy range. Relative to the 3FGL catalog, the 4FGL catalog has twice as much exposure as well as a number of analysis improvements, including an updated model for the Galactic diffuse γ-ray emission, and two sets of light curves (one-year and two-month intervals). The 4FGL catalog includes 5064 sources above 4 significance, for which we provide localization and spectral properties. Seventy-five sources are modeled explicitly as spatially extended, and overall, 358 sources are considered as identified based on angular extent, periodicity, or correlated variability observed at other wavelengths. For 1336 sources, we have not found plausible counterparts at other wavelengths. More than 3130 of the identified or associated sources are active galaxies of the blazar class, and 239 are pulsars.
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