| 1. |
- Abdo, A. A., et al.
(author)
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A change in the optical polarization associated with a gamma-ray flare in the blazar 3C 279
- 2010
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In: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 463:7283, s. 919-923
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- It is widely accepted that strong and variable radiation detected over all accessible energy bands in a number of active galaxies arises from a relativistic, Doppler-boosted jet pointing close to our line of sight(1). The size of the emitting zone and the location of this region relative to the central supermassive black hole are, however, poorly known, with estimates ranging from light-hours to a light-year or more. Here we report the coincidence of a gamma (gamma)-ray flare with a dramatic change of optical polarization angle. This provides evidence for co-spatiality of optical and gamma-ray emission regions and indicates a highly ordered jet magnetic field. The results also require a non-axisymmetric structure of the emission zone, implying a curved trajectory for the emitting material within the jet, with the dissipation region located at a considerable distance from the black hole, at about 10(5) gravitational radii.
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| 2. |
- Abdo, A. A., et al.
(author)
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DETECTION OF GAMMA-RAY EMISSION FROM THE STARBURST GALAXIES M82 AND NGC 253 WITH THE LARGE AREA TELESCOPE ON FERMI
- 2010
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In: The Astrophysical Journal Letters. - 2041-8205 .- 2041-8213. ; 709:2, s. l152-L157
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We report the detection of high-energy gamma-ray emission from two starburst galaxies using data obtained with the Large Area Telescope on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Steady point-like emission above 200 MeV has been detected at significance levels of 6.8 sigma and 4.8 sigma, respectively, from sources positionally coincident with locations of the starburst galaxies M82 and NGC 253. The total fluxes of the sources are consistent with gamma-ray emission originating from the interaction of cosmic rays with local interstellar gas and radiation fields and constitute evidence for a link between massive star formation and gamma-ray emission in star-forming galaxies.
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| 3. |
- Abdo, A. A., et al.
(author)
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FERMI Large Area Telescope and multi-wavelength observations of the flaring activity of PKS 1510-089 between 2008 september and 2009 june
- 2010
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In: Astrophysical Journal. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 721:2, s. 1425-1447
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We report on the multi-wavelength observations of PKS 1510-089 (a flat spectrum radio quasar (FSRQ) at z = 0.361) during its high activity period between 2008 September and 2009 June. During this 11 month period, the source was characterized by a complex variability at optical, UV, and gamma-ray bands, on timescales down to 6-12 hr. The brightest gamma-ray isotropic luminosity, recorded on 2009 March 26, was similar or equal to 2 x 1048 erg s-1. The spectrum in the Fermi Large Area Telescope energy range shows a mild curvature described well by a log-parabolic law, and can be understood as due to the Klein-Nishina effect. The. -ray flux has a complex correlation with the other wavelengths. There is no correlation at all with the X-ray band, a weak correlation with the UV, and a significant correlation with the optical flux. The. -ray flux seems to lead the optical one by about 13 days. From the UV photometry, we estimated a black hole mass of similar or equal to 5.4 x 10(8)M(circle dot) and an accretion rate of similar or equal to 0.5M(circle dot) yr(-1). Although the power in the thermal and non-thermal outputs is smaller compared to the very luminous and distant FSRQs, PKS 1510-089 exhibits a quite large Compton dominance and a prominent big blue bump (BBB) as observed in the most powerful gamma-ray quasars. The BBB was still prominent during the historical maximum optical state in 2009 May, but the optical/ UV spectral index was softer than in the quiescent state. This seems to indicate that the BBB was not completely dominated by the synchrotron emission during the highest optical state. We model the broadband spectrum assuming a leptonic scenario in which the inverse Compton emission is dominated by the scattering of soft photons produced externally to the jet. The resulting model-dependent jet energetic content is compatible with a scenario in which the jet is powered by the accretion disk, with a total efficiency within the Kerr black hole limit.
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| 4. |
- Abdo, A. A., et al.
(author)
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FERMI LARGE AREA TELESCOPE DETECTION OF PULSED gamma-RAYS FROM THE VELA-LIKE PULSARS PSR J1048-5832 AND PSR J2229+6114
- 2009
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In: Astrophysical Journal. - : American Astronomical Society. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 706:2, s. 1331-1340
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We report the detection of gamma-ray pulsations (>= 0.1GeV) from PSR J2229+ 6114 and PSR J1048-5832, the latter having been detected as a low-significance pulsar by EGRET. Data in the gamma-ray band were acquired by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) aboard the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, while the radio rotational ephemerides used to fold the gamma-ray light curves were obtained using the Green Bank Telescope, the Lovell telescope at Jodrell Bank, and the Parkes Telescope. The two young radio pulsars, located within the error circles of the previously unidentified EGRET sources 3EG J1048-5840 and 3EG J2227+6122, present spin-down characteristics similar to the Vela pulsar. PSR J1048-5832 shows two sharp peaks at phases 0.15 +/- 0.01 and 0.57 +/- 0.01 relative to the radio pulse confirming the EGRET light curve, while PSR J2229+ 6114 presents a very broad peak at phase 0.49 +/- 0.01. The gamma-ray spectra above 0.1 GeV of both pulsars are fit with power laws having exponential cutoffs near 3 GeV, leading to integral photon fluxes of (2.19 +/- 0.22 +/- 0.32) x 10(-7) cm(-2) s(-1) for PSR J1048-5832 and (3.77 +/- 0.22 +/- 0.44) x 10(-7) cm(-2) s(-1) for PSR J2229+6114. The first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. PSR J1048-5832 is one of the two LAT sources whichwere entangled together as 3EG J1048-5840. These detections add to the growing number of young gamma-ray pulsars that make up the dominant population of GeV gamma-ray sources in the Galactic plane.
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| 5. |
- Abdo, A. A., et al.
(author)
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FERMI LARGE AREA TELESCOPE FIRST SOURCE CATALOG
- 2010
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In: Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. - : American Astronomical Society. - 0067-0049 .- 1538-4365. ; 188:2, s. 405-436
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We present a catalog of high-energy gamma-ray sources detected by the Large Area Telescope (LAT), the primary science instrument on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (Fermi), during the first 11 months of the science phase of the mission, which began on 2008 August 4. The First Fermi-LAT catalog (1FGL) contains 1451 sources detected and characterized in the 100 MeV to 100 GeV range. Source detection was based on the average flux over the 11 month period, and the threshold likelihood Test Statistic is 25, corresponding to a significance of just over 4 sigma. The 1FGL catalog includes source location regions, defined in terms of elliptical fits to the 95% confidence regions and power-law spectral fits as well as flux measurements in five energy bands for each source. In addition, monthly light curves are provided. Using a protocol defined before launch we have tested for several populations of gamma-ray sources among the sources in the catalog. For individual LAT-detected sources we provide firm identifications or plausible associations with sources in other astronomical catalogs. Identifications are based on correlated variability with counterparts at other wavelengths, or on spin or orbital periodicity. For the catalogs and association criteria that we have selected, 630 of the sources are unassociated. Care was taken to characterize the sensitivity of the results to the model of interstellar diffuse gamma-ray emission used to model the bright foreground, with the result that 161 sources at low Galactic latitudes and toward bright local interstellar clouds are flagged as having properties that are strongly dependent on the model or as potentially being due to incorrectly modeled structure in the Galactic diffuse emission.
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| 6. |
- Abdo, A. A., et al.
(author)
-
FERMI LARGE AREA TELESCOPE GAMMA-RAY DETECTION OF THE RADIO GALAXY M87
- 2009
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In: Astrophysical Journal. - : American Astronomical Society. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 707:1, s. 55-60
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We report the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) discovery of high-energy (MeV/GeV) gamma-ray emission positionally consistent with the center of the radio galaxy M87, at a source significance of over 10 sigma in 10 months of all-sky survey data. Following the detections of Cen A and Per A, this makes M87 the third radio galaxy seen with the LAT. The faint point-like gamma-ray source has a >100 MeV flux of 2.45 (+/-0.63) x 10(-8) photons cm(-2) s(-1) (photon index = 2.26 +/- 0.13) with no significant variability detected within the LAT observation. This flux is comparable with the previous EGRET upper limit (<2.18 x 10-8 photons cm(-2) s(-1), 2 sigma), thus there is no evidence for a significant MeV/GeV flare on decade timescales. Contemporaneous Chandra and Very Long Baseline Array data indicate low activity in the unresolved X-ray and radio core relative to previous observations, suggesting M87 is in a quiescent overall level over the first year of Fermi-LAT observations. The LAT gamma-ray spectrum is modeled as synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) emission from the electron population producing the radio-to-X-ray emission in the core. The resultant SSC spectrum extrapolates smoothly from the LAT band to the historical-minimum TeV emission. Alternative models for the core and possible contributions from the kiloparsec-scale jet in M87 are considered, and cannot be excluded.
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| 7. |
- Abdo, A. A., et al.
(author)
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Fermi large area telescope observations of the crab pulsar and nebula
- 2010
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In: Astrophysical Journal. - : American Astronomical Society. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 708:2, s. 1254-1267
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We report on gamma-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 gamma-ray peak leads the radio main pulse by (281 +/- 12 +/- 21) mu s, giving new constraints on the production site of non-thermal emission in pulsar magnetospheres. The first uncertainty is due to gamma-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 E-c = (5.8 +/- 0.5 +/- 1.2) GeV, spectral index of Gamma = (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 gamma-ray photons are observed up to similar 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 gamma-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 Gamma(sync) = (3.99 +/- 0.12 +/- 0.08) and Gamma(IC) = (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.
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| 8. |
- Abdo, A. A., et al.
(author)
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FERMI OBSERVATIONS OF THE VERY HARD GAMMA-RAY BLAZAR PG 1553+113
- 2010
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In: Astrophysical Journal. - : American Astronomical Society. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 708:2, s. 1310-1320
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We report the observations of PG 1553+113 during the first similar to 200 days of Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope science operations, from 2008 August 4 to 2009 February 22 (MJD 54682.7-54884.2). This is the first detailed study of PG 1553+113 in the GeV gamma-ray regime and it allows us to fill a gap of three decades in energy in its spectral energy distribution (SED). We find PG 1553+113 to be a steady source with a hard spectrum that is best fit by a simple power law in the Fermi energy band. We combine the Fermi data with archival radio, optical, X-ray, and very high energy (VHE) gamma-ray data to model its broadband SED and find that a simple, one-zone synchrotron self-Compton model provides a reasonable fit. PG 1553+113 has the softest VHE spectrum of all sources detected in that regime and, out of those with significant detections across the Fermi energy bandpass so far, the hardest spectrum in that energy regime. Thus, it has the largest spectral break of any gamma-ray source studied to date, which could be due to the absorption of the intrinsic gamma-ray spectrum by the extragalactic background light (EBL). Assuming this to be the case, we selected a model with a low level of EBL and used it to absorb the power-law spectrum from PG 1553+113 measured with Fermi (200 MeV-157 GeV) to find the redshift, which gave the best fit to the measured VHE data (90 GeV-1.1 TeV) for this parameterization of the EBL. We show that this redshift can be considered an upper limit on the distance to PG 1553+113.
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| 9. |
- Abdo, A. A., et al.
(author)
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MULTIWAVELENGTH MONITORING OF THE ENIGMATIC NARROW-LINE SEYFERT 1 PMN J0948+0022 IN 2009 MARCH-JULY
- 2009
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In: Astrophysical Journal. - : American Astronomical Society. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 707:1, s. 727-737
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Following the recent discovery of gamma rays from the radio-loud narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy PMN J0948+0022 (z = 0.5846), we started a multiwavelength campaign from radio to gamma rays, which was carried out between the end of 2009 March and the beginning of July. The source displayed activity at all the observed wavelengths: a general decreasing trend from optical to gamma-ray frequencies was followed by an increase of radio emission after less than two months from the peak of the gamma-ray emission. The largest flux change, about a factor of about 4, occurred in the X-ray band. The smallest was at ultraviolet and near-infrared frequencies, where the rate of the detected photons dropped by a factor 1.6-1.9. At optical wavelengths, where the sampling rate was the highest, it was possible to observe day scale variability, with flux variations up to a factor of about 3. The behavior of PMN J0948+0022 observed in this campaign and the calculated power carried out by its jet in the form of protons, electrons, radiation, and magnetic field are quite similar to that of blazars, specifically of flat-spectrum radio quasars. These results confirm the idea that radio-loud narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies host relativistic jets with power similar to that of average blazars.
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| 10. |
- Abdo, A. A., et al.
(author)
-
PKS 1502+106 : A new and distant gamma-ray blazar in outburst discovered by the fermi large area telescope
- 2010
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In: Astrophysical Journal. - : American Astronomical Society. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 710:1, s. 810-827
-
Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Large Area Telescope (LAT) on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope discovered a rapid (similar to 5 days duration), high-energy (E > 100 MeV) gamma-ray outburst from a source identified with the blazar PKS 1502+106 (OR 103, S3 1502+10, z = 1.839) starting on 2008 August 5 (similar to 23 UTC, MJD 54683.95), and followed by bright and variable flux over the next few months. Results on the gamma-ray localization and identification, as well as spectral and temporal behavior during the first months of the Fermi all-sky survey, are reported here in conjunction with a multiwaveband characterization as a result of one of the first Fermi multifrequency campaigns. The campaign included a Swift ToO (followed up by a 16 day observation on August 7-22, MJD 54685-54700), VLBA (within the MOJAVE program), Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO) 40 m, Effelsberg-100 m, Metsahovi-14 m, RATAN-600, and Kanata-Hiroshima radio/optical observations. Results from the analysis of archival observations by INTEGRAL, XMM-Newton, and Spitzer space telescopes are reported for a more complete picture of this new gamma-ray blazar. PKS 1502+106 is a sub-GeV peaked, powerful flat spectrum radio quasar (luminosity at E > 100 MeV, L-gamma, is about 1.1 x 10(49) erg s(-1), and black hole mass likely close to 10(9) M-circle dot), exhibiting marked gamma-ray bolometric dominance, in particular during the asymmetric outburst (L-gamma/L-opt similar to 100, and 5 day averaged flux F-E > 100MeV = 2.91 +/- 1.4 x 10(-6) ph cm(-2) s(-1)), which was characterized by a factor greater than 3 of flux increase in less than 12 hr. The outburst was observed simultaneously from optical to X-ray bands (F0.3-10keV = 2.18(-0.12)(+0.15) x 10(-12) erg cm(-2) s(-1), and hard photon index similar to 1.5, similar to past values) with a flux increase of less than 1 order of magnitude with respect to past observations, and was likely controlled by Comptonization of external-jet photons produced in the broad-line region (BLR) in the gamma-ray band. No evidence of a possible blue bump signature was observed in the optical-UV continuum spectrum, while some hints for a possible 4 day time lag with respect to the gamma-ray flare were found. Nonetheless, the properties of PKS 1502+106 and the strict optical/UV, X-, and gamma-ray cross-correlations suggest the contribution of the synchrotron self-Compton (SSC), in-jet, process should dominate from radio to X- rays. This mechanism may also be responsible for the consistent gamma-ray variability observed by the LAT on longer timescales, after the ignition of activity at these energies provided by the BLR-dissipated outburst. Modulations and subsequent minor, rapid flare events were detected, with a general fluctuation mode between pink-noise and a random-walk. The averaged gamma-ray spectrum showed a deviation from a simple power law, and can be described by a log-parabola curved model peaking around 0.4-0.5 GeV. The maximum energy of photons detected from the source in the first four months of LAT observations was 15.8 GeV, with no significant consequences on extragalactic background light predictions. A possible radio counterpart of the gamma-ray outburst can be assumed only if a delay of more than three months is considered on the basis of opacity effects at cm and longer wavelengths. The rotation of the electric vector position angle observed by VLBA from 2007 to 2008 could represent a slow field odering and alignment with respect to the jet axis, likely a precursor feature of the ejection of a superluminal radio knot and the high-energy outburst. This observing campaign provides more insight into the connection between MeV-GeV flares and the moving, polarized structures observed by the VLBI.
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