All of the proposed explanations for the microlensing events observed toward the LMC have difficulties. One of these proposed explanations, LMC self-lensing, which invokes ordinary LMC stars as the ...long sought-after lenses, has recently gained considerable popularity as a possible solution to the microlensing conundrum. In this paper, we carefully examine the full range of LMC self-lensing models, including for the first time the contribution of the LMC bar in both sources and lenses. In particular, we review the pertinent observations made of the LMC and show how these observations place limits on such self-lensing models. We find that, given current observational constraints, no purely LMC disk models are capable of producing optical depths as large as that reported in the MACHO collaboration 2 year analysis. We also introduce a new quantitative measure of the central concentration of the microlensing events and show that it discriminates well between disk/bar self-lensing and halo microlensing. Besides pure disk/bar, we also consider alternative geometries and present a framework which encompasses the previous studies of LMC self-lensing. We discuss which model parameters need to be pushed in order for such models to succeed. For example, like previous workers, we find that an LMC halo geometry may be able to explain the observed events. However, since all known LMC tracer stellar populations exhibit disklike kinematics, such models will have difficulty being reconciled with observations. For SMC self-lensing, we find predicted optical depths differing from previous results, but more than sufficient to explain all observed SMC microlensing. In contrast, for the LMC we find a self-lensing optical depth contribution between 0.47x10{sup -8} and 7.84x10{sup -8}, with 2.44x10{sup -8} being the value for the set of LMC parameters most consistent with current observations. (c) 2000 The American Astronomical Society.
We present results of a microlensing survey toward the Andromeda Galaxy (M 31) carried out during four observing seasons at the Isaac Newton Telescope (INT). This survey is part of the larger ...microlensing survey toward M 31 performed by the Microlensing Exploration of the Galaxy and Andromeda (MEGA) collaboration. Using a fully automated search algorithm, we identify 14 candidate microlensing events, three of which are reported here for the first time. Observations obtained at the Mayall telescope are combined with the INT data to produce composite lightcurves for these candidates. The results from the survey are compared with theoretical predictions for the number and distribution of events. These predictions are based on a Monte Carlo calculation of the detection efficiency and disk-bulge-halo models for M 31. The models provide the full phase-space distribution functions (DFs) for the lens and source populations and are motivated by dynamical and observational considerations. They include differential extinction and span a wide range of parameter space characterised primarily by the mass-to-light ratios for the disk and bulge. For most models, the observed event rate is consistent with the rate predicted for self-lensing - a MACHO halo fraction of 30% or higher can be ruled at the 95% confidence level. The event distribution does show a large near-far asymmetry hinting at a halo contribution to the microlensing signal Two candidate events are located at particularly large projected radii on the far side of the disk. These events are difficult to explain by self lensing and only somewhat easier to explain by MACHO lensing. A possibility is that one of these is due to a lens in a giant stellar stream.
We present the first M 31 candidate microlensing events from the Microlensing Exploration of the Galaxy and Andromeda (MEGA) survey. MEGA uses several telescopes to detect microlensing towards the ...nearby Andromeda galaxy, M 31, in order to establish whether massive compact objects are a significant contribution to the mass budget of the dark halo of M 31. The results presented here are based on observations with the Isaac Newton Telescope on La Palma, during the 1999/00 and 2000/01 observing seasons. In this data set, 14 variable sources consistent with microlensing have been detected, 12 of which are new and 2 have been reported previously by the POINT-AGAPE group. A preliminary analysis of the spatial and timescale distributions of the candidate events support their microlensing nature. We compare the spatial distributions of the candidate events and of long-period variable stars, assuming the chances of finding a long-period variable and a microlensing event are comparable. The spatial distribution of our candidate microlensing events is more far/near side asymmetric than expected from the detected long-period variable distribution. The current analysis is preliminary and the asymmetry not highly significant, but the spatial distribution of candidate microlenses is suggestive of the presence of a microlensing halo.
We report on the detection of a very rapid TeV gamma-ray flare from BL Lacertae on 2011 June 28 with the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS). The flaring activity was ...observed during a 34.6 minute exposure, when the integral flux above 200 GeV reached (3.4 + or - 0.6) x 10 super(-6) photons m super(-2) s super(-1), roughly 125% of the Crab Nebula flux measured by VERITAS. The light curve indicates that the observations missed the rising phase of the flare but covered a significant portion of the decaying phase. The exponential decay time was determined to be 13 + or - 4 minutes, making it one of the most rapid gamma-ray flares seen from a TeV blazar. The gamma-ray spectrum of BL Lacertae during the flare was soft, with a photon index of 3.6 + or - 0.4, which is in agreement with the measurement made previously by MAGIC in a lower flaring state. Contemporaneous radio observations of the source with the Very Long Baseline Array revealed the emergence of a new, superluminal component from the core around the time of the TeV gamma-ray flare, accompanied by changes in the optical polarization angle. Changes in flux also appear to have occurred at optical, UV, and GeV gamma-ray wavelengths at the time of the flare, although they are difficult to quantify precisely due to sparse coverage. A strong flare was seen at radio wavelengths roughly four months later, which might be related to the gamma-ray flaring activities. We discuss the implications of these multiwavelength results.
Although Galactic cosmic rays (protons and nuclei) are widely believed to be mainly accelerated by the winds and supernovae of massive stars, definitive evidence of this origin remains elusive nearly ...a century after their discovery. The active regions of starburst galaxies have exceptionally high rates of star formation, and their large size—more than 50 times the diameter of similar Galactic regions—uniquely enables reliable calorimetric measurements of their potentially high cosmic-ray density. The cosmic rays produced in the formation, life and death of massive stars in these regions are expected to produce diffuse -ray emission through interactions with interstellar gas and radiation. M82, the prototype small starburst galaxy, is predicted to be the brightest starburst galaxy in terms of -ray emission. Here we report the detection of >700-GeV -rays from M82. From these data we determine a cosmic-ray density of 250 eV cm-3 in the starburst core, which is about 500 times the average Galactic density. This links cosmic-ray acceleration to star formation activity, and suggests that supernovae and massive-star winds are the dominant accelerators.
The high-frequency-peaked BL Lacertae object 1ES 0229+200 is a relatively distant (z = 0.1396), hard-spectrum (Gamma ~ 2.5), very-high-energy (VHE; E > 100 GeV) emitting gamma -ray blazar. VHE ...measurements of this active galactic nucleus have been used to place constraints on the intensity of the extragalactic background light and the intergalactic magnetic field (IGMF). A multi-wavelength study of this object centered around VHE observations by Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) is presented. This study obtained, over a period of three years, an 11.7 standard deviation detection and an average integral flux F(E > 300 GeV) = (23.3 + or - 2.8 sub(stat) + or - 5.8 sub(sys)) x 10 super(-9) photons m super(-2) s super(-1), or 1.7% of the Crab Nebula's flux (assuming the Crab Nebula spectrum measured by H.E.S.S). Supporting observations from Swift and RXTE are analyzed. The Swift observations are combined with previously published Fermi observations and the VHE measurements to produce an overall spectral energy distribution which is then modeled assuming one-zone synchrotron-self-Compton emission. The chi super(2) probability of the TeV flux being constant is 1.6%. This, when considered in combination with measured variability in the X-ray band, and the demonstrated variability of many TeV blazars, suggests that the use of blazars such as 1ES 0229+200 for IGMF studies may not be straightforward and challenges models that attribute hard TeV spectra to secondary gamma -ray production along the line of sight.
Observations of radio halos and relics in galaxy clusters indicate efficient electron acceleration. We report here on VHE gamma-ray observations of the Coma galaxy cluster with the VERITAS array of ...imaging Cerenkov telescopes, with complementing Fermi Large Area Telescope observations at GeV energies. We use the gamma-ray upper limits to constrain cosmic rays (CRs) and magnetic fields in Coma. Using an analytical approach, the CR-to-thermal pressure ratio is constrained to be <16% from VERITAS data and <1.7% from Fermi data (averaged within the virial radius). These upper limits are starting to constrain the CR physics in self-consistent cosmological cluster simulations and cap the maximum CR acceleration efficiency at structure formation shocks to be <50%. Finally, since galaxy clusters are dark matter (DM) dominated, the VERITAS upper limits have been used to place constraints on the thermally averaged product of the total self-annihilation cross section and the relative velocity of the DM particles, left angle bracket sigmavright angle bracket.
The VERITAS array of Cherenkov telescopes has carried out a deep observational program on the nearby dwarf spheroidal galaxy Segue 1. We report on the results of nearly 48 hours of good quality ...selected data, taken between January 2010 and May 2011. No significant gamma -ray emission is detected at the nominal position of Segue 1, and upper limits on the integrated flux are derived. According to recent studies, Segue 1 is the most dark matter-dominated dwarf spheroidal galaxy currently known. We derive stringent bounds on various annihilating and decaying dark matter particle models. The upper limits on the velocity-weighted annihilation cross-section are (sigmav) super(95% CL) <, ~ 10 super(-23) cm super(3) s super(-1), improving our limits from previous observations of dwarf spheroidal galaxies by at least a factor of 2 for dark matter particle masses m sub( chi ) > ~ 300 GeV. The lower limits on the decay lifetime are at the level of tau super(95% CL) > ~ 10 super(24) s. Finally, we address the interpretation of the cosmic ray lepton anomalies measured by ATIC and PAMELA in terms of dark matter annihilation, and show that the VERITAS observations of Segue 1 disfavor such a scenario.
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