27 research outputs found
AGILE detection of a rapid Îł-ray flare from the blazar PKS 1510-089 during the GASP-WEBT monitoring
We report the detection by the AGILE satellite of a rapid gamma-ray flare
from the powerful gamma-ray quasar PKS 1510-089, during a pointing centered on
the Galactic Center region from 1 March to 30 March 2008. This source has been
continuosly monitored in the radio-to-optical bands by the GLAST-AGILE Support
Program (GASP) of the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope (WEBT). Moreover, the
gamma-ray flaring episode triggered three ToO observations by the Swift
satellite in three consecutive days, starting from 20 March 2008. In the period
1-16 March 2008, AGILE detected gamma-ray emission from PKS 1510-089 at a
significance level of 6.2-sigma with an average flux over the entire period of
(84 +/- 17) x 10^{-8} photons cm^{-2} s^{-1} for photon energies above 100 MeV.
After a predefined satellite re-pointing, between 17 and 21 March 2008, AGILE
detected the source at a significance level of 7.3-sigma, with an average flux
(E > 100 MeV) of (134 +/- 29) x 10^{-8} photons cm^{-2} s^{-1} and a peak level
of (281 +/- 68) x 10^{-8} photons cm^{-2} s^{-1} with daily integration. During
the observing period January-April 2008, the source also showed an intense and
variable optical activity, with several flaring episodes and a significant
increase of the flux was observed at millimetric frequencies. Moreover, in the
X-ray band the Swift/XRT observations seem to show an harder-when-brighter
behaviour of the source spectrum. The spectral energy distribution of mid-March
2008 is modelled with a homogeneous one-zone synchrotron self Compton emission
plus contributions from inverse Compton scattering of external photons from
both the accretion disc and the broad line region. Indeed, some features in the
optical-UV spectrum seem to indicate the presence of Seyfert-like components,
such as the little blue bump and the big blue bump
Multiwavelength observations of a TeV-Flare from W comae
We report results from an intensive multiwavelength campaign on the intermediate-frequency-peaked BL Lacertae object W Com (z = 0.102) during a strong outburst of very high energy gamma-ray emission in 2008 June. The very high energy gamma-ray signal was detected by VERITAS on 2008 June 7-8 with a flux F(>200 GeV) =(5.7 0.6) à 10-11 cm-2 s -1, about three times brighter than during the discovery of gamma-ray emission from W Com by VERITAS in 2008 March. The initial detection of this flare by VERITAS at energies above 200 GeV was followed by observations in high-energy gamma rays (AGILE; E γ℠100 MeV), X-rays (Swift and XMM-Newton), and at UV, and ground-based optical and radio monitoring through the GASP-WEBT consortium and other observatories. Here we describe the multiwavelength data and derive the spectral energy distribution of the source from contemporaneous data taken throughout the flare. © 2009. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved
Multiwavelength observations of 3C 454.3. III. Eighteen months of agile monitoring of the "crazy diamond"
We report on 18 months of multiwavelength observations of the blazar 3C 454.3 (Crazy Diamond) carried out in the period 2007 July-2009 January. In particular, we show the results of the AGILE campaigns which took place on 2008 May-June, 2008 July-August, and 2008 October-2009 January. During the 2008 May-2009 January period, the source average flux was highly variable, with a clear fading trend toward the end of the period, from an average Îł-ray flux F E>100 MeV âł 200 Ă 10-8photonscm -2s-1 in 2008 May-June, to F E>100 MeV 80 Ă 10-8photonscm-2s-1 in 2008 October-2009 January. The average Îł-ray spectrum between 100 MeV and 1 GeV can be fit by a simple power law, showing a moderate softening (from ÎGRID ⌠2.0 to ÎGRID ⌠2.2) toward the end of the observing campaign. Only 3Ï upper limits can be derived in the 20-60 keV energy band with Super-AGILE, because the source was considerably off-axis during the whole time period. In 2007 July-August and 2008 May-June, 3C 454.3 was monitored by Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE). The RXTE/Proportional Counter Array (PCA) light curve in the 3-20 keV energy band shows variability correlated with the Îł-ray one. The RXTE/PCA average flux during the two time periods is F 3-20 keV = 8.4 Ă 10-11ergcm-2s -1, and F 3-20 keV = 4.5 Ă 10 -11ergcm-2s-1, respectively, while the spectrum (a power law with photon index ÎPCA = 1.65 0.02) does not show any significant variability. Consistent results are obtained with the analysis of the RXTE/High-Energy X-Ray Timing Experiment quasi-simultaneous data. We also carried out simultaneous Swift observations during all AGILE campaigns. Swift/XRT detected 3C 454.3 with an observed flux in the 2-10 keV energy band in the range (0.9-7.5) Ă 10-11ergcm-2s-1 and a photon index in the range ÎXRT = 1.33-2.04. In the 15-150 keV energy band, when detected, the source has an average flux of about 5mCrab. GASP-WEBT monitored 3C 454.3 during the whole 2007-2008 period in the radio, millimeter, near-IR, and optical bands. The observations show an extremely variable behavior at all frequencies, with flux peaks almost simultaneous with those at higher energies. A correlation analysis between the optical and the Îł-ray fluxes shows that the Îł-optical correlation occurs with a time lag of Ï = -0.4+0.6-0.8 days, consistent with previous findings for this source. An analysis of 15 GHz and 43 GHz VLBI core radio flux observations in the period 2007 July-2009 February shows an increasing trend of the core radio flux, anti-correlated with the higher frequency data, allowing us to derive the value of the source magnetic field. Finally, the modeling of the broadband spectral energy distributions for the still unpublished data, and the behavior of the long-term light curves in different energy bands, allow us to compare the jet properties during different emission states, and to study the geometrical properties of the jet on a time-span longer than one year. © 2010. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved
AGILE detection of extreme Îł -ray activity from the blazar PKS 1510-089 during March 2009: Multifrequency analysis
We report on the extreme gamma-ray activity from the FSRQ PKS 1510-089
observed by AGILE in March 2009. In the same period a radio-to-optical
monitoring of the source was provided by the GASP-WEBT and REM. Moreover,
several Swift ToO observations were triggered, adding important information on
the source behaviour from optical/UV to hard X-rays. We paid particular
attention to the calibration of the Swift/UVOT data to make it suitable to the
blazars spectra. Simultaneous observations from radio to gamma rays allowed us
to study in detail the correlation among the emission variability at different
frequencies and to investigate the mechanisms at work. In the period 9-30 March
2009, AGILE detected an average gamma-ray flux of (311+/-21)x10^-8 ph cm^-2
s^-1 for E>100 MeV, and a peak level of (702+/-131)x10^-8 ph cm^-2 s^-1 on
daily integration. The gamma-ray activity occurred during a period of
increasing activity from near-IR to UV, with a flaring episode detected on
26-27 March 2009, suggesting that a single mechanism is responsible for the
flux enhancement observed from near-IR to UV. By contrast, Swift/XRT
observations seem to show no clear correlation of the X-ray fluxes with the
optical and gamma-ray ones. However, the X-ray observations show a harder
photon index (1.3-1.6) with respect to most FSRQs and a hint of
harder-when-brighter behaviour, indicating the possible presence of a second
emission component at soft X-ray energies. Moreover, the broad band spectrum
from radio-to-UV confirmed the evidence of thermal features in the optical/UV
spectrum of PKS 1510-089 also during high gamma-ray state. On the other hand,
during 25-26 March 2009 a flat spectrum in the optical/UV energy band was
observed, suggesting an important contribution of the synchrotron emission in
this part of the spectrum during the brightest gamma-ray flare, therefore a
significant shift of the synchrotron peak