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Deep broadband observations of the distant gamma-ray blazar pks 1424+240 |
Archambault, S.; Aune, T.; Behera, B.; Beilicke, M.; Benbow, W.; Berger, K.; Bird, R.; Biteau, J.; Bugaev, V.; Byrum, K.; Cardenzana, J. V; Cerruti, M.; Chen, X.; Ciupik, L.; Connolly, M. P.; Cui, W.; Dumm, J.; Errando, M.; Falcone, A.; Federici, S.
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We present deep VERITAS observations of the blazar PKS 1424+240, along with contemporaneous Fermi Large Area Telescope, Swift X-ray Telescope, and Swift UV Optical Telescope data between 2009 February 19 and 2013 June 8. This blazar resides at a redshift of z >= 0.6035, displaying a significantly attenuated gamma-ray flux above 100 GeV due to photon absorption via pair-production with the extragalactic background light. We present more than 100 hr of VERITAS observations over three years, a multiwavelength light curve, and the contemporaneous spectral energy distributions. The source shows a higher flux of (2.1 +/- 0.3) x 10(-7) photons m(-2) s(-1) above 120 GeV in 2009 and 2011 as compared to the flux measured in 2013, corresponding to (1.02 +/- 0.08) x 10-7 photons m(-2) s(-1) above 120 GeV. The measured differential very high energy (VHE; E >= 100 GeV) spectral indices are Gamma = 3.8 +/- 0.3, 4.3 +/- 0.6 and 4.5 +/- 0.2 in 2009, 2011, and 2013, respectively. No significant spectral change across the observation epochs is detected. We find no evidence for variability at gamma-ray opacities of greater than tau = 2, where it is postulated that any variability would be small and occur on timescales longer than a year if hadronic cosmic-ray interactions with extragalactic photon fields provide a secondary VHE photon flux. The data cannot rule out such variability due to low statistics.
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Keyword(s):
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bl lacertae objects individual (pks 1424+240)-cosmic background radiation; gamma rays galaxies; extragalactic background light; space-telescope mission; large-area telescope; energy cosmic-ray; tev blazars; spectra; redshift; absorption; radiation; universe |
Publication Date:
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2018 |
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Type:
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Journal article |
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Peer-Reviewed:
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Unknown |
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Institution:
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NUI Galway |
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Publisher(s):
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IOP Publishing |
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First Indexed:
2019-03-23 06:49:46 Last Updated:
2019-03-23 06:49:46 |
