Long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) release copious amounts of energy across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, and so provide a window into the process of black hole formation from the collapse ...of massive stars. Previous early optical observations of even the most exceptional GRBs (990123 and 030329) lacked both the temporal resolution to probe the optical flash in detail and the accuracy needed to trace the transition from the prompt emission within the outflow to external shocks caused by interaction with the progenitor environment. Here we report observations of the extraordinarily bright prompt optical and gamma-ray emission of GRB 080319B that provide diagnostics within seconds of its formation, followed by broadband observations of the afterglow decay that continued for weeks. We show that the prompt emission stems from a single physical region, implying an extremely relativistic outflow that propagates within the narrow inner core of a two-component jet.
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DOBA, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
BLAZAR SPECTRAL PROPERTIES AT 74 MHz Massaro, F; Giroletti, M; Paggi, A ...
The Astrophysical journal. Supplement series,
10/2013, Letnik:
208, Številka:
2
Journal Article
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Blazars are the most extreme class of active galactic nuclei. Despite a previous investigation at 102 MHz for a small sample of BL Lac objects and our recent analysis of blazars detected in the ...Westerbork Northern Sky Survey, a systematic study of the blazar spectral properties at frequencies below 100 MHz has been never carried out. In this paper, we present the first analysis of the radio spectral behavior of blazars based on the recent Very Large Array Low-frequency Sky Survey (VLSS) at 74 MHz. We search for blazar counterparts in the VLSS catalog, confirming that they are detected at 74 MHz. We then show that blazars present radio-flat spectra (i.e., radio spectral indices of ~0.5) when evaluated, which also about an order of magnitude in frequency lower than previous analyses. Finally, we discuss the implications of our findings in the context of the blazars-radio galaxies connection since the low-frequency radio data provide a new diagnostic tool to verify the expectations of the unification scenario for radio-loud active galaxies.
In this work, we report the discovery with Fermi/LAT of γ-ray emission from three radio-loud narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies: PKS 1502+036 (z = 0.409), 1H 0323+342 (z = 0.061), and PKS 2004 – 447 (z = ...0.24). In addition to PMN J0948+0022 (z = 0.585), the first source of this type to be detected in γ rays, they may form an emerging new class of γ-ray active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Lastly, these findings can have strong implications on our knowledge about relativistic jets and the unified model of the AGN.
We present the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) observations of the binary neutron star merger event GW170817 and the associated short gamma-ray burst (SGRB) GRB 170817A detected by the Fermi ...Gamma-ray Burst Monitor. The LAT was entering the South Atlantic Anomaly at the time of the LIGO/Virgo trigger (tGW) and therefore cannot place constraints on the existence of high-energy (E > 100 MeV) emission associated with the moment of binary coalescence. We focus instead on constraining high-energy emission on longer timescales. No candidate electromagnetic counterpart was detected by the LAT on timescales of minutes, hours, or days after the LIGO/Virgo detection. The resulting flux upper bound (at 95% C.L.) from the LAT is 4.5 × 10−10 erg cm−2 s−1 in the 0.1-1 GeV range covering a period from tGW + 1153 s to tGW + 2027 s. At the distance of GRB 170817A, this flux upper bound corresponds to a luminosity upper bound of 9.7 × 1043 erg s−1, which is five orders of magnitude less luminous than the only other LAT SGRB with known redshift, GRB 090510. We also discuss the prospects for LAT detection of electromagnetic counterparts to future gravitational-wave events from Advanced LIGO/Virgo in the context of GW170817/GRB 170817A.
Black holes with masses below approximately 1015 g are expected to emit gamma-rays with energies above a few tens of MeV, which can be detected by the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT). Although black ...holes with these masses cannot be formed as a result of stellar evolution, they may have formed in the early universe and are therefore called primordial black holes (PBHs). Previous searches for PBHs have focused on either short-timescale bursts or the contribution of PBHs to the isotropic gamma-ray emission. We show that, in cases of individual PBHs, the Fermi-LAT is most sensitive to PBHs with temperatures above approximately 16 GeV and masses 6 × 1011 g, which it can detect out to a distance of about 0.03 pc. These PBHs have a remaining lifetime of months to years at the start of the Fermi mission. They would appear as potentially moving point sources with gamma-ray emission that become spectrally harder and brighter with time until the PBH completely evaporates. In this paper, we develop a new algorithm to detect the proper motion of gamma-ray point sources, and apply it to 318 unassociated point sources at a high galactic latitude in the third Fermi-LAT source catalog. None of the unassociated point sources with spectra consistent with PBH evaporation show significant proper motion. Using the nondetection of PBH candidates, we derive a 99% confidence limit on the PBH evaporation rate in the vicinity of Earth, ˙ PBH < 7.2 × 10 3 pc − 3 yr − 1 . This limit is similar to the limits obtained with ground-based gamma-ray observatories.
Pulsars are rapidly rotating, highly magnetized neutron stars emitting radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum. Although there are more than 1800 known radio pulsars, until recently only seven ...were observed to pulse in gamma rays, and these were all discovered at other wavelengths. The Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) makes it possible to pinpoint neutron stars through their gamma-ray pulsations. We report the detection of 16 gamma-ray pulsars in blind frequency searches using the LAT. Most of these pulsars are coincident with previously unidentified gamma-ray sources, and many are associated with supernova remnants. Direct detection of gamma-ray pulsars enables studies of emission mechanisms, population statistics, and the energetics of pulsar wind nebulae and supernova remnants.
We present observations of the young supernova remnant (SNR) RX J1713.7--3946 with the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT). We clearly detect a source positionally coincident with the SNR. The source is ...extended with a best-fit extension of 055 ? 004 matching the size of the non-thermal X-ray and TeV gamma-ray emission from the remnant. The positional coincidence and the matching extended emission allow us to identify the LAT source with SNR RX J1713.7--3946. The spectrum of the source can be described by a very hard power law with a photon index of Delta *G = 1.5 ? 0.1 that coincides in normalization with the steeper H.E.S.S.-detected gamma-ray spectrum at higher energies. The broadband gamma-ray emission is consistent with a leptonic origin as the dominant mechanism for the gamma-ray emission.
A significant fraction (~30%) of the high-energy gamma -ray sources listed in the second Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) catalog are still of unknown origin, having not yet been associated with ...counterparts at lower energies. To investigate the nature of these enigmatic sources, we present an extensive search of X-ray sources lying in the positional uncertainty region of a selected sample of these unidentified gamma-ray sources (UGSs) that makes use of all available observations performed by the Swift X-ray Telescope before 2013 March 31, available for 205 UGSs. To detect the fainter sources, we merged all the observations covering the Fermi LAT positional uncertainty region at a 95% level of confidence of each UGS. This yields a catalog of 357 X-ray sources, finding candidate X-ray counterparts for ~70% of the selected sample. In particular, 25% of the UGSs feature a single X-ray source within their positional uncertainty region, while 45% have multiple X-ray sources. For each X-ray source, we also looked in the corresponding Swift UVOT merged images for optical and ultraviolet counterparts, also performing source photometry. We found ultraviolet-optical correspondences for ~70% of the X-ray sources. We searched several major radio, infrared, optical, and ultraviolet surveys for possible counterparts within the positional error of the sources in the X-ray catalog to obtain additional information on their nature. Applying the kernel density estimation technique to infrared colors of Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer counterparts of our X-ray sources we select six gamma -ray blazar candidates. In addition, comparing our results with previous analyses, we select 11 additional gamma -ray blazar candidates.
We report on Delta *g-ray observations of the Crab Pulsar and Nebula using 8 months of survey data with the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT). The high quality light curve obtained using the ephemeris ...provided by the Nancay and Jodrell Bank radio telescopes shows two main peaks stable in phase with energy. The first Delta *g-ray peak leads the radio main pulse by (281 +/- 12 +/- 21) Delta *ms, giving new constraints on the production site of non-thermal emission in pulsar magnetospheres. The first uncertainty is due to Delta *g-ray statistics, and the second arises from the rotation parameters. The improved sensitivity and the unprecedented statistics afforded by the LAT enable precise measurement of the Crab Pulsar spectral parameters: cut-off energy at Ec = (5.8 +/- 0.5 +/- 1.2) GeV, spectral index of Delta *G = (1.97 +/- 0.02 +/- 0.06) and integral photon flux above 100 MeV of (2.09 +/- 0.03 +/- 0.18) X 10-6 cm-2 s-1. The first errors represent the statistical error on the fit parameters, while the second ones are the systematic uncertainties. Pulsed Delta *g-ray photons are observed up to ~ 20 GeV which precludes emission near the stellar surface, below altitudes of around 4-5 stellar radii in phase intervals encompassing the two main peaks. A detailed phase-resolved spectral analysis is also performed: the hardest emission from the Crab Pulsar comes from the bridge region between the two Delta *g-ray peaks while the softest comes from the falling edge of the second peak. The spectrum of the nebula in the energy range 100 MeV-300 GeV is well described by the sum of two power laws of indices Delta *Gsync = (3.99 +/- 0.12 +/- 0.08) and Delta *GIC = (1.64 +/- 0.05 +/- 0.07), corresponding to the falling edge of the synchrotron and the rising edge of the inverse Compton (IC) components, respectively. This latter, which links up naturally with the spectral data points of Cherenkov experiments, is well reproduced via IC scattering from standard magnetohydrodynamic nebula models, and does not require any additional radiation mechanism.
ABSTRACT The Fermi-Large Area Telescope (LAT) First Source Catalog (1FGL) was released in 2010 February and the Fermi-LAT 2-Year Source Catalog (2FGL) appeared in 2012 April, based on data from 24 ...months of operation. Since they were released, many follow up observations of unidentified γ-ray sources have been performed and new procedures for associating γ-ray sources with potential counterparts at other wavelengths have been developed. Here we review and characterize all of the associations as published in the 1FGL and 2FGL catalogs on the basis of multifrequency archival observations. In particular, we located 177 spectra for the low-energy counterparts that were not listed in the previous Fermi catalogs, and in addition we present new spectroscopic observations of eight γ-ray blazar candidates. Based on our investigations, we introduce a new counterpart category of "candidate associations" and propose a refined classification for the candidate low-energy counterparts of the Fermi sources. We compare the 1FGL-assigned counterparts with those listed in 2FGL to determine which unassociated sources became associated in later releases of the Fermi catalogs. We also search for potential counterparts to all of the remaining unassociated Fermi sources. Finally, we prepare a refined and merged list of all of the associations of 1FGL plus 2FGL that includes 2219 unique Fermi objects. This is the most comprehensive and systematic study of all the associations collected for the γ-ray sources available to date. We conclude that 80% of the Fermi sources have at least one known plausible γ-ray emitter within their positional uncertainty regions.
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