| 1. |
- Baldini, L., et al.
(author)
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Catalog of Long-term Transient Sources in the First 10 yr of Fermi-LAT Data
- 2021
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In: Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. - : American Astronomical Society. - 0067-0049 .- 1538-4365. ; 256:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We present the first Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) catalog of long-term gamma-ray transient sources (1FLT). This comprises sources that were detected on monthly time intervals during the first decade of Fermi-LAT operations. The monthly timescale allows us to identify transient and variable sources that were not yet reported in other Fermi-LAT catalogs. The monthly data sets were analyzed using a wavelet-based source detection algorithm that provided the candidate new transient sources. The search was limited to the extragalactic regions of the sky to avoid the dominance of the Galactic diffuse emission at low Galactic latitudes. The transient candidates were then analyzed using the standard Fermi-LAT maximum likelihood analysis method. All sources detected with a statistical significance above 4 sigma in at least one monthly bin were listed in the final catalog. The 1FLT catalog contains 142 transient gamma-ray sources that are not included in the 4FGL-DR2 catalog. Many of these sources (102) have been confidently associated with active galactic nuclei (AGNs): 24 are associated with flat-spectrum radio quasars, 1 with a BL Lac object, 70 with blazars of uncertain type, 3 with radio galaxies, 1 with a compact steep-spectrum radio source, 1 with a steep-spectrum radio quasar, and 2 with AGNs of other types. The remaining 40 sources have no candidate counterparts at other wavelengths. The median gamma-ray spectral index of the 1FLT-AGN sources is softer than that reported in the latest Fermi-LAT AGN general catalog. This result is consistent with the hypothesis that detection of the softest gamma-ray emitters is less efficient when the data are integrated over year-long intervals.
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| 2. |
- Ajello, M., et al.
(author)
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Fermi Large Area Telescope Performance after 10 Years of Operation
- 2021
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In: Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. - : American Astronomical Society. - 0067-0049 .- 1538-4365. ; 256:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Large Area Telescope (LAT), the primary instrument for the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (Fermi) mission, is an imaging, wide field-of-view, high-energy gamma-ray telescope, covering the energy range from 30 MeV to more than 300 GeV. We describe the performance of the instrument at the 10 yr milestone. LAT performance remains well within the specifications defined during the planning phase, validating the design choices and supporting the compelling case to extend the duration of the Fermi mission. The details provided here will be useful when designing the next generation of high-energy gamma-ray observatories.
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| 3. |
- Ajello, M., et al.
(author)
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Gamma Rays from Fast Black-hole Winds
- 2021
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In: Astrophysical Journal. - : American Astronomical Society. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 921:2
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Massive black holes at the centers of galaxies can launch powerful wide-angle winds that, if sustained over time, can unbind the gas from the stellar bulges of galaxies. These winds may be responsible for the observed scaling relation between the masses of the central black holes and the velocity dispersion of stars in galactic bulges. Propagating through the galaxy, the wind should interact with the interstellar medium creating a strong shock, similar to those observed in supernovae explosions, which is able to accelerate charged particles to high energies. In this work we use data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope to search for the gamma-ray emission from galaxies with an ultrafast outflow (UFO): a fast (v similar to 0.1 c), highly ionized outflow, detected in absorption at hard X-rays in several nearby active galactic nuclei (AGN). Adopting a sensitive stacking analysis we are able to detect the average gamma-ray emission from these galaxies and exclude that it is due to processes other than UFOs. Moreover, our analysis shows that the gamma-ray luminosity scales with the AGN bolometric luminosity and that these outflows transfer similar to 0.04% of their mechanical power to gamma-rays. Interpreting the observed gamma-ray emission as produced by cosmic rays (CRs) accelerated at the shock front, we find that the gamma-ray emission may attest to the onset of the wind-host interaction and that these outflows can energize charged particles up to the transition region between galactic and extragalactic CRs.
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| 4. |
- Ajello, M., et al.
(author)
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High-energy emission from a magnetar giant flare in the Sculptor galaxy
- 2021
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In: Nature Astronomy. - : Springer Nature. - 2397-3366. ; 5:4, s. 385-391
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Magnetars are the most highly magnetized neutron stars in the cosmos (with magnetic field 1013–1015 G). Giant flares from magnetars are rare, short-duration (about 0.1 s) bursts of hard X-rays and soft γ rays1,2. Owing to the limited sensitivity and energy coverage of previous telescopes, no magnetar giant flare has been detected at gigaelectronvolt (GeV) energies. Here, we report the discovery of GeV emission from a magnetar giant flare on 15 April 2020 (refs. 3,4 and A. J. Castro-Tirado et al., manuscript in preparation). The Large Area Telescope (LAT) on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope detected GeV γ rays from 19 s until 284 s after the initial detection of a signal in the megaelectronvolt (MeV) band. Our analysis shows that these γ rays are spatially associated with the nearby (3.5 megaparsecs) Sculptor galaxy and are unlikely to originate from a cosmological γ-ray burst. Thus, we infer that the γ rays originated with the magnetar giant flare in Sculptor. We suggest that the GeV signal is generated by an ultra-relativistic outflow that first radiates the prompt MeV-band photons, and then deposits its energy far from the stellar magnetosphere. After a propagation delay, the outflow interacts with environmental gas and produces shock waves that accelerate electrons to very high energies; these electrons then emit GeV γ rays as optically thin synchrotron radiation. This observation implies that a relativistic outflow is associated with the magnetar giant flare, and suggests the possibility that magnetars can power some short γ-ray bursts.
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