Aims: To investigate the extension of the very-high-energy spectral tail of the Crab pulsar at energies above 400 GeV. Methods: We analyzed \(\sim\)320 hours of good quality data of Crab with the ...MAGIC telescope, obtained from February 2007 until April 2014. Results: We report the most energetic pulsed emission ever detected from the Crab pulsar reaching up to 1.5 TeV. The pulse profile shows two narrow peaks synchronized with the ones measured in the GeV energy range. The spectra of the two peaks follow two different power-law functions from 70 GeV up to 1.5 TeV and connect smoothly with the spectra measured above 10 GeV by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on board of the Fermi satellite. When making a joint fit of the LAT and MAGIC data, above 10 GeV, the photon indices of the spectra differ by 0.5\(\pm\)0.1. Conclusions: We measured with the MAGIC telescopes the most energetic pulsed photons from a pulsar to date. Such TeV pulsed photons require a parent population of electrons with a Lorentz factor of at least \(5\times 10^6\). These results strongly suggest IC scattering off low energy photons as the emission mechanism and a gamma-ray production region in the vicinity of the light cylinder.
The MAGIC stereoscopic system collected 69 hours of Crab Nebula data between October 2009 and April 2011. Analysis of this data sample using the latest improvements in the MAGIC stereoscopic software ...provided an unprecedented precision of spectral and night-by-night light curve determination at gamma rays. We derived a differential spectrum with a single instrument from 50 GeV up to almost 30 TeV with 5 bins per energy decade. At low energies, MAGIC results, combined with Fermi-LAT data, show a flat and broad Inverse Compton peak. The overall fit to the data between 1 GeV and 30 TeV is not well described by a log-parabola function. We find that a modified log-parabola function with an exponent of 2.5 instead of 2 provides a good description of the data (\(\chi^2=35/26\)). Using systematic uncertainties of red the MAGIC and Fermi-LAT measurements we determine the position of the Inverse Compton peak to be at (53 \(\pm\) 3stat + 31syst -13syst) GeV, which is the most precise estimation up to date and is dominated by the systematic effects. There is no hint of the integral flux variability on daily scales at energies above 300 GeV when systematic uncertainties are included in the flux measurement. We consider three state- of-the-art theoretical models to describe the overall spectral energy distribution of the Crab Nebula. The constant B-field model cannot satisfactorily reproduce the VHE spectral measurements presented in this work, having particular difficulty reproducing the broadness of the observed IC peak. Most probably this implies that the assumption of the homogeneity of the magnetic field inside the nebula is incorrect. On the other hand, the time-dependent 1D spectral model provides a good fit of the new VHE results when considering a 80 {\mu}G magnetic field. However, it fails to match the data when including the morphology of the nebula at lower wavelengths.
Context. In the last five years the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) instrument detected GeV {\gamma}-ray emission from five novae. The GeV emission can be interpreted in terms of an inverse Compton ...process of electrons accelerated in a shock. In this case it is expected that protons in the same conditions can be accelerated to much higher energies. Consequently they may produce a second component in the {\gamma}-ray spectrum at TeV energies. Aims. We aim to explore the very-high-energy domain to search for {\gamma}-ray emission above 50 GeV and to shed light on the acceleration process of leptons and hadrons in nova explosions. Methods. We have performed observations with the MAGIC telescopes of the classical nova V339 Del shortly after the 2013 outburst, triggered by optical and subsequent GeV {\gamma}-ray detec- tions. We also briefly report on VHE observations of the symbiotic nova YY Her and the dwarf nova ASASSN-13ax. We complement the TeV MAGIC observations with the analysis of con- temporaneous Fermi-LAT data of the sources. The TeV and GeV observations are compared in order to evaluate the acceleration parameters for leptons and hadrons. Results. No significant TeV emission was found from the studied sources. We computed upper limits on the spectrum and night-by-night flux. The combined GeV and TeV observations of V339 Del limit the ratio of proton to electron luminosities to Lp<~0.15 Le.
The high-frequency-peaked BL Lac (HBL) 1ES 0806+524 (z = 0.138) was discovered in VHE \(\gamma\) rays in 2008. Until now, the broad-band spectrum of 1ES 0806+524 has been only poorly characterized, ...in particular at high energies. We analysed multiwavelength observations from \(\gamma\) rays to radio performed from 2011 January to March, which were triggered by the high activity detected at optical frequencies. These observations constitute the most precise determination of the broad-band emission of 1ES 0806+524 to date. The stereoscopic MAGIC observations yielded a \(\gamma\)-ray signal above 250 GeV of \((3.7 \pm 0.7)\) per cent of the Crab Nebula flux with a statistical significance of 9.9 \(\sigma\). The multiwavelength observations showed significant variability in essentially all energy bands, including a VHE \(\gamma\)-ray flare that lasted less than one night, which provided unprecedented evidence for short-term variability in 1ES 0806+524. The spectrum of this flare is well described by a power law with a photon index of \(2.97 \pm 0.29\) between \(\sim\)150 GeV and 1 TeV and an integral flux of \((9.3 \pm 1.9)\) per cent of the Crab Nebula flux above 250 GeV. The spectrum during the non-flaring VHE activity is compatible with the only available VHE observation performed in 2008 with VERITAS when the source was in a low optical state. The broad-band spectral energy distribution can be described with a one-zone Synchrotron Self Compton model with parameters typical for HBLs, indicating that 1ES 0806+524 is not substantially different from the HBLs previously detected.
The MAGIC telescopes are two Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) located on the Canary island of La Palma. The telescopes are designed to measure Cherenkov light from air showers ...initiated by gamma rays in the energy regime from around 50 GeV to more than 50 TeV. The two telescopes were built in 2004 and 2009, respectively, with different cameras, triggers and readout systems. In the years 2011-2012 the MAGIC collaboration undertook a major upgrade to make the stereoscopic system uniform, improving its overall performance and easing its maintenance. In particular, the camera, the receivers and the trigger of the first telescope were replaced and the readout of the two telescopes was upgraded. This paper (Part I) describes the details of the upgrade as well as the basic performance parameters of MAGIC such as raw data treatment, dead time of the system, linearity in the electronic chain and sources of noise. In Part II, we describe the physics performance of the upgraded system.
PG 1553+113 is a very-high-energy (VHE, \(E>100\,\mathrm{GeV}\)) \(\gamma\)-ray emitter classified as a BL Lac object. Its redshift is constrained by intergalactic absorption lines in the range ...\(0.4<z<0.58\). The MAGIC telescopes have monitored the source's activity since 2005. In early 2012, PG 1553+113 was found in a high-state, and later, in April of the same year, the source reached its highest VHE flux state detected so far. Simultaneous observations carried out in X-rays during 2012 April show similar flaring behaviour. In contrast, the \(\gamma\)-ray flux at \(E<100\,\mathrm{GeV}\) observed by Fermi-LAT is compatible with steady emission. In this paper, a detailed study of the flaring state is presented. The VHE spectrum shows clear curvature, being well fitted either by a power law with an exponential cut-off or by a log-parabola. A simple power-law fit hypothesis for the observed shape of the PG 1553+113 VHE \(\gamma\)-ray spectrum is rejected with a high significance (fit probability P=2.6 \(\times 10^{-6}\)). The observed curvature is compatible with the extragalactic background light (EBL) imprint predicted by current generation EBL models assuming a redshift \(z\sim0.4\). New constraints on the redshift are derived from the VHE spectrum. These constraints are compatible with previous limits and suggest that the source is most likely located around the optical lower limit, \(z=0.4\), based on the detection of Ly\(\alpha\) absorption. Finally, we find that the synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) model gives a satisfactory description of the observed multi-wavelength spectral energy distribution during the flare.
Context: MWC 656 has recently been established as the first observationally detected high-mass X-ray binary system containing a Be star and a black hole (BH). The system has been associated with a ...gamma-ray flaring event detected by the AGILE satellite in July 2010. Aims: Our aim is to evaluate if the MWC 656 gamma-ray emission extends to very high energy (VHE > 100 GeV) gamma rays. Methods. We have observed MWC 656 with the MAGIC telescopes for \(\sim\)23 hours during two observation periods: between May and June 2012 and June 2013. During the last period, observations were performed contemporaneously with X-ray (XMM-Newton) and optical (STELLA) instruments. Results: We have not detected the MWC 656 binary system at TeV energies with the MAGIC Telescopes in either of the two campaigns carried out. Upper limits (ULs) to the integral flux above 300 GeV have been set, as well as differential ULs at a level of \(\sim\)5% of the Crab Nebula flux. The results obtained from the MAGIC observations do not support persistent emission of very high energy gamma rays from this system at a level of 2.4% the Crab flux.
MAGIC is a system of two Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes located in the Canary island of La Palma, Spain. During summer 2011 and 2012 it underwent a series of upgrades, involving the ...exchange of the MAGIC-I camera and its trigger system, as well as the upgrade of the readout system of both telescopes. We use observations of the Crab Nebula taken at low and medium zenith angles to assess the key performance parameters of the MAGIC stereo system. For low zenith angle observations, the standard trigger threshold of the MAGIC telescopes is ~50GeV. The integral sensitivity for point-like sources with Crab Nebula-like spectrum above 220GeV is (0.66+/-0.03)% of Crab Nebula flux in 50 h of observations. The angular resolution, defined as the sigma of a 2-dimensional Gaussian distribution, at those energies is < 0.07 degree, while the energy resolution is 16%. We also re-evaluate the effect of the systematic uncertainty on the data taken with the MAGIC telescopes after the upgrade. We estimate that the systematic uncertainties can be divided in the following components: < 15% in energy scale, 11-18% in flux normalization and +/-0.15 for the energy spectrum power-law slope.
Supermassive black holes with masses of millions to billions of solar masses are commonly found in the centers of galaxies. Astronomers seek to image jet formation using radio interferometry, but ...still suffer from insufficient angular resolution. An alternative method to resolve small structures is to measure the time variability of their emission. Here, we report on gamma-ray observations of the radio galaxy IC 310 obtained with the MAGIC telescopes revealing variability with doubling time scales faster than 4.8 min. Causality constrains the size of the emission region to be smaller than 20\% of the gravitational radius of its central black hole. We suggest that the emission is associated with pulsar-like particle acceleration by the electric field across a magnetospheric gap at the base of the radio jet.
The number of known very high energy (VHE) blazars is \(\sim\,50\), which is very small in comparison to the number of blazars detected in other frequencies. This situation is a handicap for ...population studies of blazars, which emit about half of their luminosity in the \(\gamma\)-ray domain. Moreover, VHE blazars, if distant, allow for the study of the environment that the high-energy \(\gamma\)-rays traverse in their path towards the Earth, like the extragalactic background light (EBL) and the intergalactic magnetic field (IGMF), and hence they have a special interest for the astrophysics community. We present the first VHE detection of 1ES\,0033+595 with a statistical significance of 5.5\,\(\sigma\). The VHE emission of this object is constant throughout the MAGIC observations (2009 August and October), and can be parameterized with a power law with an integral flux above 150 GeV of \((7.1\pm1.3)\times 10^{-12} {\mathrm{ph\,cm^{-2}\,s^{-1}}}\) and a photon index of (\(3.8\pm0.7\)). We model its spectral energy distribution (SED) as the result of inverse Compton scattering of synchrotron photons. For the study of the SED we used simultaneous optical R-band data from the KVA telescope, archival X-ray data by \textit{Swift} as well as \textit{INTEGRAL}, and simultaneous high energy (HE, \(300\)\,MeV~--~\(10\)\,GeV) \(\gamma\)-ray data from the \textit{Fermi} LAT observatory. Using the empirical approach of Prandini et al. (2010) and the \textit{Fermi}-LAT and MAGIC spectra for this object, we estimate the redshift of this source to be \(0.34\pm0.08\pm0.05\). This is a relevant result because this source is possibly one of the ten most distant VHE blazars known to date, and with further (simultaneous) observations could play an important role in blazar population studies, as well as future constraints on the EBL and IGMF.
