AGILE detection of variable gamma-ray activity from the blazar S5 0716+714 during September-October 2007

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

8 pages, 4 figures, "Workshop on Blazar Variability across the Electromagnetic Spectrum", 2008 April 22-25, Palaiseau, France

Scientific paper

We report the gamma-ray activity from the Intermediate BL Lac S5 0716+714 during 2007 September-October observations by the AGILE satellite, coincident with a period of intense optical activity of the source monitored by GASP-WEBT. AGILE observed the source with its two co-aligned imagers, the Gamma-Ray Imaging Detector (GRID) and the hard X-ray imager (Super-AGILE) sensitive in the energy range 30 MeV-50 GeV and 18-60 keV respectively, in two different periods: the first between 4 and 23 September 2007, the second between 24 October and 1 November 2007. Over the period 7-12 September, AGILE detected gamma-ray emission from the source at a significance level of 9.6-sigma with an average flux (E>100 MeV) of (97+/-15) x 10^{-8} photons cm^{-2} s^{-1}, increasing by a factor of at least four within three days. No emission was detected by Super-AGILE in the energy range 18-60 keV, with a 3-sigma upper limit of 10 mCrab in 335 ksec. The gamma-ray flux of S5 0716+714 detected by AGILE is the highest ever detected for this blazar and one of the most intense gamma-ray fluxes detected from a BL Lac object. The Spectral Energy Distribution (SED) of mid-September seems to be consistent with the synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) emission model, but only by including two SSC components with different variability. In October 2007 AGILE repointed toward S5 0716+714 following an intense optical flare, measuring an average flux of (47+/-11) x 10^{-8} photons cm^{-2} s^{-1} at a significance level of 6.0-sigma. The gamma-ray flux during both AGILE pointings appears to be highly variable on timescales of 1 day.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

AGILE detection of variable gamma-ray activity from the blazar S5 0716+714 during September-October 2007 does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with AGILE detection of variable gamma-ray activity from the blazar S5 0716+714 during September-October 2007, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and AGILE detection of variable gamma-ray activity from the blazar S5 0716+714 during September-October 2007 will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-528862

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.