Abstract
In this work, we make use of a supervised machine-learning algorithm based on Logistic Regression (LR) to select TeV blazar candidates from the 4FGL-DR2/4LAC-DR2, 3FHL, 3HSP, and 2BIGB ...catalogs. LR constructs a hyperplane based on a selection of optimal parameters, named features, and hyperparameters whose values control the learning process and determine the values of features that a learning algorithm ends up learning, to discriminate TeV blazars from non-TeV blazars. In addition, it gives the probability (or logistic) that a source may be considered a TeV blazar candidate. Non-TeV blazars with logistics greater than 80% are considered high-confidence TeV candidates. Using this technique, we identify 40 high-confidence TeV candidates from the 4FGL-DR2/4LAC-DR2 blazars and we build the feature hyperplane to distinguish TeV and non-TeV blazars. We also calculate the hyperplanes for the 3FHL, 3HSP, and 2BIGB. Finally, we construct the broadband spectral energy distributions for the 40 candidates, testing for their detectability with various instruments. We find that seven of them are likely to be detected by existing or upcoming IACT observatories, while one could be observed with extensive air shower particle detector arrays.
We present the results of a series of radio, optical, X-ray, and γ-ray observations of the BL Lac object S50716+714 carried out between April 2007 and January 2011. The multifrequency observations ...were obtained using several ground- and space-based facilities. The intense optical monitoring of the source reveals faster repetitive variations superimposed on a long-term variability trend on a time scale of ~350 days. Episodes of fast variability recur on time scales of ~60−70 days. The intense and simultaneous activity at optical and γ-ray frequencies favors the synchrotron self-Compton mechanism for the production of the high-energy emission. Two major low-peaking radio flares were observed during this high optical/γ-ray activity period. The radio flares are characterized by a rising and a decaying stage and agrees with the formation of a shock and its evolution. We found that the evolution of the radio flares requires a geometrical variation in addition to intrinsic variations of the source. Different estimates yield robust and self-consistent lower limits of δ ≥ 20 and equipartition magnetic field Beq ≥ 0.36 G. Causality arguments constrain the size of emission region θ ≤ 0.004 mas. We found a significant correlation between flux variations at radio frequencies with those at optical and γ-rays. Theoptical/GeV flux variations lead the radio variability by ~65 days. The longer time delays between low-peaking radio outbursts and optical flares imply that optical flares are the precursors of radio ones. An orphan X-ray flare challenges the simple, one-zone emission models, rendering them too simple. Here we also describe the spectral energy distribution modeling of the source from simultaneous data taken through different activity periods.
The Fermi-Large Area Telescope (LAT) is currently the most important facility for investigating the GeV γ-ray sky. With Fermi-LAT, more than three thousand γ-ray sources have been discovered so far. ...1144 (∼40 per cent) of the sources are active galaxies of the blazar class, and 573 (∼20 per cent) are listed as blazar candidate of uncertain type (BCU), or sources without a conclusive classification. We use the empirical cumulative distribution functions and the artificial neural networks for a fast method of screening and classification for BCUs based on data collected at γ-ray energies only, when rigorous multiwavelength analysis is not available. Based on our method, we classify 342 BCUs as BL Lacs and 154 as flat-spectrum radio quasars, while 77 objects remain uncertain. Moreover, radio analysis and direct observations in ground-based optical observatories are used as counterparts to the statistical classifications to validate the method. This approach is of interest because of the increasing number of unclassified sources in Fermi catalogues and because blazars and in particular their subclass high synchrotron peak objects are the main targets of atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes.
We present a new accurate catalog of narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies (NLS1s) in the southern hemisphere from the Six-degree Field Galaxy Survey (6dFGS) final data release, which is currently the most ...extensive spectroscopic survey available in the southern sky whose database has not yet been systematically explored. We classified 167 sources as NLS1s based on their optical spectral properties. We derived flux-calibrated spectra for the first time that the 6dFGS does not provide. By analyzing these spectra, we obtained strong correlations between the monochromatic luminosity at 5100 Å and the luminosities of Hβ and O IIIλ5007 lines. The central black hole mass and the Eddington ratio have average values of 8.6 × 106M⊙ and 0.96 LEdd respectively, which are typical values for NLS1s. In the sample, 23 (13.8%) NLS1s were detected at radio frequencies, and 12 (7.0%) of them are radio-loud. Our results confirmed that radio-loud sources tend to have higher redshift, a more massive black hole, and higher radio and optical luminosities than radio-quiet sources.
Searching for as yet undetected
γ
-ray sources is one of the main stated goals of the
Fermi
Large Area Telescope Collaboration. In this paper, we explore the capability of a filtering method based on ...a finite mixture of von Mises–Fisher distributions. The proposed procedure is specifically designed to handle data with support on the unit sphere. The assumption of a parametric model for each high energy emitting source allows us to derive an explicit expression for both the direction of the sources and their angular resolutions. The corresponding measures are based on the directional mean and the quantiles of the single mixture components. Sound criteria of model selection can provide an automatic way to determine the number of detected sources. Additionally, a likelihood-ratio test is developed to evaluate their significance. The procedure is tested on simulated data sets of photon emissions from high energy sources within the energy range
10
−
1
,
000
GeV
. A real data example consisting of a sample of the
Fermi
LAT data collected over a period of about 7.2 years within the energy range
10
−
1
,
000
GeV
, in a subregion of the
γ
-ray sky, is furthermore provided.
We present the results of the analysis of Markarian 180 (1ES 1133+704), a BL Lac object embedded in a giant elliptical galaxy, obtained for a period of 45 day, during which multi-wavelength ...observations were ongoing. The multi-wavelength campaign on Mrk180 was in 2008 (from 2008-10-24 to 2008-12-08) and was coordinated by Stefan Rugamer (MAGIC Collaboration). The Mrk 180 is associated with a quasar-like object whose distance can be determined unambiguously, thanks to the measurement of absorption line that gives the redshift (z=0.046; Ulrich 1978). The source was observed by the LAT of the Fermi satellite, and it was possible to discover a change of flux, at the energies 100MeV–300GeV, during the multi-wavelength campaign period. Results of the analysis are shown.
The TANAMI program has been observing parsec-scale radio jets of southern (declination south of − 30°) γ-ray bright AGN, simultaneously with Fermi/LAT monitoring of their γ-ray emission, via ...high-resolution radio imaging with Very Long Baseline Interferometry techniques. We present the radio and γ-rayproperties of the TANAMI sources based on one year of contemporaneous TANAMI and Fermi/LAT data. A large fraction (72%) of the TANAMI sample can be associated with bright γ-ray sources for this time range. Association rates differ for different optical classes with all BL Lacs, 76% of quasars, and just 17% of galaxies detected by the LAT. Upper limits were established on the γ-ray flux from TANAMI sources not detected by LAT. This analysis led to the identification of three new Fermi sources whose detection was later confirmed. The γ-ray and radio luminosities are related by Lγ ∝ Lr0.89±0.04. The brightness temperatures of the radio cores increase with the average γ-ray luminosity and the presence of brightness temperatures above the inverse Compton limit implies strong Doppler boosting in those sources. The undetected sources have lower γ/radio luminosity ratios and lower contemporaneous brightness temperatures. Unless the Fermi/LAT-undetected blazars are much γ-ray-fainter than the Fermi/LAT-detected sources, their γ-ray luminosity should not be significantly lower than the upper limits calculated here.
Context. Blazars are a subset of active galactic nuclei (AGN) with jets that are oriented along our line of sight. Variability and spectral energy distribution (SED) studies are crucial tools for ...understanding the physical processes responsible for observed AGN emission. Aims. We report peculiar behavior in the bright γ-ray blazar PKS 1424−418 and use its strong variability to reveal information about the particle acceleration and interactions in the jet. Methods. Correlation analysis of the extensive optical coverage by the ATOM telescope and nearly continuous γ-ray coverage by the Fermi Large Area Telescope is combined with broadband, time-dependent modeling of the SED incorporating supplemental information from radio and X-ray observations of this blazar. Results. We analyse in detail four bright phases at optical-GeV energies. These flares of PKS 1424−418 show high correlation between these energy ranges, with the exception of one large optical flare that coincides with relatively low γ-ray activity. Although the optical/γ-ray behavior of PKS 1424−418 shows variety, the multiwavelength modeling indicates that these differences can largely be explained by changes in the flux and energy spectrum of the electrons in the jet that are radiating. We find that for all flares the SED is adequately represented by a leptonic model that includes inverse Compton emission from external radiation fields with similar parameters. Conclusions. Detailed studies of individual blazars like PKS 1424−418 during periods of enhanced activity in different wavebands are helping us identify underlying patterns in the physical parameters in this class of AGN.
In the first 3.5 years of operations, Fermi detected several sources whose flaring activity brought them to exceed daily fluxes brighter than
F
(
E
> 100MeV) > 10
−6
ph cm
−2
s
−1
. These episodes ...were promptly reported to the scientific community by the Fermi collaboration by means of astronomer telegrams (ATels). We focus our attention on the sample composed by these flaring sources, most of which are blazars, known to be extremely variable over the whole electromagnetic spectrum, from radio to γ-ray energies. We study properties of the selected sample and compare them to general characteristics of the Fermi source catalogue.
We report on the multiwavelength observations of the bright, long gamma-ray burst GRB 110731A, by the Fermi and Swift observatories, and by the MOA and GROND optical telescopes. The analysis of the ...prompt phase reveals that GRB 110731A shares many features with bright Large Area Telescope bursts observed by Fermi during the first three years on-orbit: a light curve with short time variability across the whole energy range during the prompt phase, delayed onset of the emission above 100 MeV, extra power-law component and temporally extended high-energy emission. In addition, this is the first GRB for which simultaneous GeV, X-ray, and optical data are available over multiple epochs beginning just after the trigger time and extending for more than 800 s, allowing temporal and spectral analysis in different epochs that favor emission from the forward shock in a wind-type medium. The observed temporally extended GeV emission is most likely part of the high-energy end of the afterglow emission. Both the single-zone pair transparency constraint for the prompt signal and the spectral and temporal analysis of the forward-shock afterglow emission independently lead to an estimate of the bulk Lorentz factor of the jet Gamma ~ 500-550.
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