-
E. Lindfors,
K. Nilsson,
U. Barres de Almeida,
D. Mazin,
D. Paneque,
K. Saito,
J. Becerra Gonzalez,
K. Berger,
G. De Caneva,
C. Schultz,
J. Sitarek,
A. Stamerra,
F. Tavecchio,
on behalf of the MAGIC collaboration,
S. Buson,
F. D'Ammando, M. Hayashida,
on behalf of the Fermi-LAT collaboration A. Lähteenmäki,
M. Tornikoski,
T. Hovatta
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Among more than fifty blazars detected in very high energy (VHE, E>100GeV)
gamma-rays, only three belong to the subclass of Flat Spectrum Radio Quasars
(FSRQs): PKS 1510-089, PKS 1222+216 and 3C 279. The detection of FSRQs in the
VHE range is challenging, mainly because of their steep soft spectra in the
GeV-TeV regime. MAGIC has observed and detected all FSRQs known to be VHE
emitters up to now and found that they exhibit very different behavior. The
2010 discovery of PKS 1222+216 (z = 0.432) with the fast variability observed,
challenges simple one-zone emission models and more complicated scenarios have
been proposed. 3C 279 is the most distant VHE gamma-ray emitting AGN (z =
0.536), which was discovered by MAGIC in 2006 and detected again in 2007. In
2011 MAGIC observed 3C 279 two times: first during a monitoring campaign and
later observations were triggered by a flare detected with Fermi-LAT. We
present the MAGIC results and the multiwavelength behavior during this flaring
epoch. Finally, we report the 2012 detection of PKS 1510-089 (z = 0.36),
together with its simultaneous multiwavelength data from optical to gamma-rays.
03/2013;
-
M Ackermann,
M Ajello,
A Allafort,
K Asano,
W ~B Atwood,
L Baldini,
J Ballet,
G Barbiellini,
D Bastieri,
K Bechtol, [......],
V Vitale,
A Kienlin,
A ~P Waite,
E Wallace,
P Weltevrede,
B ~L Winer,
K ~S Wood,
M Wood,
Z Yang,
S Zimmer
apj. 03/2013; 765:54.
-
M Ackermann,
M Ajello,
A Allafort,
L Baldini,
J Ballet,
G Barbiellini,
M G Baring,
D Bastieri,
K Bechtol,
R Bellazzini, [......],
G Vianello,
V Vitale,
A P Waite,
M Werner,
B L Winer,
K S Wood,
M Wood,
R Yamazaki,
Z Yang,
S Zimmer
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Cosmic rays are particles (mostly protons) accelerated to relativistic speeds. Despite wide agreement that supernova remnants (SNRs) are the sources of galactic cosmic rays, unequivocal evidence for the acceleration of protons in these objects is still lacking. When accelerated protons encounter interstellar material, they produce neutral pions, which in turn decay into gamma rays. This offers a compelling way to detect the acceleration sites of protons. The identification of pion-decay gamma rays has been difficult because high-energy electrons also produce gamma rays via bremsstrahlung and inverse Compton scattering. We detected the characteristic pion-decay feature in the gamma-ray spectra of two SNRs, IC 443 and W44, with the Fermi Large Area Telescope. This detection provides direct evidence that cosmic-ray protons are accelerated in SNRs.
Science 02/2013; 339(6121):807-11. · 31.20 Impact Factor
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J. Albert,
E. Aliu,
H. Anderhub,
P. Antoranz,
C. Baixeras,
J. A. Barrio,
H. Bartko,
D. Bastieri,
J. K. Becker,
W. Bednarek, [......],
P. Temnikov,
D. Tescaro,
M. Teshima,
D. F. Torres,
N. Turini,
H. Vankov,
A. Venturini,
V. Vitale,
R. M. Wagner,
W. Wittek
-
M Ackermann,
M Ajello,
A Allafort,
P Schady,
L Baldini,
J Ballet,
G Barbiellini,
D Bastieri,
R Bellazzini,
R D Blandford, [......],
E Troja,
T L Usher,
J Vandenbroucke,
V Vasileiou,
G Vianello,
V Vitale,
A P Waite,
B L Winer,
K S Wood,
M Wood
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: The light emitted by stars and accreting compact objects through the history of the universe is encoded in the intensity of the extragalactic background light (EBL). Knowledge of the EBL is important to understand the nature of star formation and galaxy evolution, but direct measurements of the EBL are limited by galactic and other foreground emissions. Here, we report an absorption feature seen in the combined spectra of a sample of gamma-ray blazars out to a redshift of z ∼ 1.6. This feature is caused by attenuation of gamma rays by the EBL at optical to ultraviolet frequencies and allowed us to measure the EBL flux density in this frequency band.
Science 11/2012; · 31.20 Impact Factor
-
H J Pletsch,
L Guillemot,
H Fehrmann,
B Allen,
M Kramer,
C Aulbert,
M Ackermann,
M Ajello,
A de Angelis,
W B Atwood, [......],
J Vandenbroucke,
V Vasileiou,
G Vianello,
V Vitale,
A P Waite,
B L Winer,
K S Wood,
M Wood,
Z Yang,
S Zimmer
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Millisecond pulsars, old neutron stars spun-up by accreting matter from a companion star, can reach high rotation rates of hundreds of revolutions per second. Until now, all such "recycled" rotation-powered pulsars have been detected by their spin-modulated radio emission. In a computing-intensive blind search of gamma-ray data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope (with partial constraints from optical data), we detected a 2.5-millisecond pulsar, PSR J1311-3430. This unambiguously explains a formerly unidentified gamma-ray source that had been a decade-long enigma, confirming previous conjectures. The pulsar is in a circular orbit with an orbital period of only 93 minutes, the shortest of any spin-powered pulsar binary ever found.
Science 10/2012; · 31.20 Impact Factor
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M Ackermann,
M Ajello,
A Allafort,
L Baldini,
J Ballet,
D Bastieri,
K Bechtol,
R Bellazzini,
B Berenji,
E ~D Bloom, [......],
D ~F Torres,
G Tosti,
E Troja,
Y Uchiyama,
J Vandenbroucke,
G Vianello,
V Vitale,
A ~P Waite,
M Wood,
Z Yang
apj. 08/2012; 755:164.
-
M. Ackermann,
M. Ajello,
J. Ballet,
G. Barbiellini,
D. Bastieri,
R. Bellazzini,
R. D. Blandford,
E. D. Bloom,
E. Bonamente,
A. W. Borgland, [......],
M. Yoshida,
T. Belloni,
G. Tagliaferri,
E. W. Bonning,
J. Isler,
C. M. Urry,
E. Hoversten,
A. Falcone,
C. Pagani,
M. Stroh
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: The blazar AO 0235+164 (z = 0.94) has been one of the most active objects
observed by Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) since its launch in Summer 2008.
In addition to the continuous coverage by Fermi, contemporaneous observations
were carried out from the radio to {\gamma} -ray bands between 2008 September
and 2009 February. In this paper, we summarize the rich multi-wavelength data
collected during the campaign (including F-GAMMA, GASP- WEBT, Kanata, OVRO,
RXTE, SMARTS, Swift, and other instruments), examine the cross-correlation
between the light curves measured in the different energy bands, and interpret
the resulting spectral energy distributions in the context of well-known blazar
emission models. We find that the {\gamma} -ray activity is well correlated
with a series of near-IR/optical flares, accompanied by an increase in the
optical polarization degree. On the other hand, the X-ray light curve shows a
distinct 20 day high state of unusually soft spectrum, which does not match the
extrapolation of the optical/UV synchrotron spectrum. We tentatively interpret
this feature as the bulk Compton emission by cold electrons contained in the
jet, which requires an accretion disk corona with an effective covering factor
of 19% at a distance of 100 Rg . We model the broadband spectra with a leptonic
model with external radiation dominated by the infrared emission from the dusty
torus.
07/2012;
-
M. Ackermann,
M. Ajello,
A. Albert,
L. Baldini,
G. Barbiellini,
K. Bechtol,
R. Bellazzini,
B. Berenji,
R. D. Blandford,
E. D. Bloom, [......],
E. Troja,
J. Vandenbroucke,
V. Vasileiou,
G. Vianello,
V. Vitale,
A. P. Waite,
B. L. Winer,
K. S. Wood,
Z. Yang,
S. Zimmer
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Dark matter particle annihilation or decay can produce monochromatic gamma-ray lines and contribute to the diffuse gamma-ray background. Flux upper limits are presented for gamma-ray spectral lines from 7 to 200 GeV and for the diffuse gamma-ray background from 4.8 GeV to 264 GeV obtained from two years of Fermi Large Area Telescope data integrated over most of the sky. We give cross-section upper limits and decay lifetime lower limits for dark matter models that produce gamma-ray lines or contribute to the diffuse spectrum, including models proposed as explanations of the PAMELA and Fermi cosmic-ray data.
Phys. Rev. D. 07/2012; 86(2).
-
M. Ackermann,
M. Ajello,
A. Allafort,
E. Antolini,
L. Baldini,
J. Ballet,
G. Barbiellini,
D. Bastieri,
K. Bechtol,
R. Bellazzini, [......],
J. Vandenbroucke,
V. Vasileiou,
G. Vianello,
V. Vitale,
A. P. Waite,
P. Wang,
B. L. Winer,
K. S. Wood,
Z. Yang,
S. Zimmer
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: We report on the gamma-ray observations of giant molecular clouds Orion A and
B with the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on-board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space
Telescope. The gamma-ray emission in the energy band between \sim100 MeV and
\sim100 GeV is predicted to trace the gas mass distribution in the clouds
through nuclear interactions between the Galactic cosmic rays (CRs) and
interstellar gas. The gamma-ray production cross-section for the nuclear
interaction is known to \sim10% precision which makes the LAT a powerful tool
to measure the gas mass column density distribution of molecular clouds for a
known CR intensity. We present here such distributions for Orion A and B, and
correlate them with those of the velocity integrated CO intensity (WCO) at a
1{\deg} \times1{\deg} pixel level. The correlation is found to be linear over a
WCO range of ~10 fold when divided in 3 regions, suggesting penetration of
nuclear CRs to most of the cloud volumes. The Wco-to-mass conversion factor,
Xco, is found to be \sim2.3\times10^20 cm-2(K km s-1)-1 for the high-longitude
part of Orion A (l > 212{\deg}), \sim1.7 times higher than \sim1.3 \times 10^20
found for the rest of Orion A and B. We interpret the apparent high Xco in the
high-longitude region of Orion A in the light of recent works proposing a
non-linear relation between H2 and CO densities in the diffuse molecular gas.
Wco decreases faster than the H2 column density in the region making the gas
"darker" to Wco.
07/2012;
-
M. Ackermann,
M. Ajello,
A. Allafort,
E. Antolini,
L. Baldini,
J. Ballet,
G. Barbiellini,
D. Bastieri,
R. Bellazzini,
B. Berenji, [......],
V. Vitale,
A. P. Waite,
E. Wallace,
P. Wang,
B. L. Winer,
M. T. Wolff,
D. L. Wood,
K. S. Wood,
Z. Yang,
and S. Zimmer
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: The Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) First Source Catalog (1FGL) provided spatial, spectral, and temporal properties for a large number of γ-ray sources using a uniform analysis method. After correlating with the most-complete catalogs of source types known to emit γ rays, 630 of these sources are "unassociated" (i.e., have no obvious counterparts at other wavelengths). Here, we employ two statistical analyses of the primary γ-ray characteristics for these unassociated sources in an effort to correlate their γ-ray properties with the active galactic nucleus (AGN) and pulsar populations in 1FGL. Based on the correlation results, we classify 221 AGN-like and 134 pulsar-like sources in the 1FGL unassociated sources. The results of these source "classifications" appear to match the expected source distributions, especially at high Galactic latitudes. While useful for planning future multiwavelength follow-up observations, these analyses use limited inputs, and their predictions should not be considered equivalent to "probable source classes" for these sources. We discuss multiwavelength results and catalog cross-correlations to date, and provide new source associations for 229 Fermi-LAT sources that had no association listed in the 1FGL catalog. By validating the source classifications against these new associations, we find that the new association matches the predicted source class in ~80% of the sources.
The Astrophysical Journal 06/2012; 753(1):83. · 6.02 Impact Factor
-
Fermi LAT Collaboration,
M. Ackermann,
M. Ajello,
A. Allafort,
L. Baldini,
J. Ballet,
D. Bastieri,
K. Bechtol,
R. Bellazzini,
B. Berenji, [......],
D. F. Torres,
G. Tosti,
E. Troja,
Y. Uchiyama,
J. Vandenbroucke,
G. Vianello,
V. Vitale,
A. P. Waite,
M. Wood,
Z. Yang
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Recent detections of the starburst galaxies M82 and NGC 253 by gamma-ray
telescopes suggest that galaxies rapidly forming massive stars are more
luminous at gamma-ray energies compared to their quiescent relatives. Building
upon those results, we examine a sample of 69 dwarf, spiral, and luminous and
ultraluminous infrared galaxies at photon energies 0.1-100 GeV using 3 years of
data collected by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on the \textit{Fermi Gamma-ray
Space Telescope} (\textit{Fermi}). Measured fluxes from significantly detected
sources and flux upper limits for the remaining galaxies are used to explore
the physics of cosmic rays in galaxies. We find further evidence for
quasi-linear scaling relations between gamma-ray luminosity and both radio
continuum luminosity and total infrared luminosity which apply both to
quiescent galaxies of the Local Group and low-redshift starburst galaxies
(conservative $P$-values $\lesssim0.05$ accounting for statistical and
systematic uncertainties). The normalizations of these scaling relations
correspond to luminosity ratios of $\log(L_{0.1-100 \rm{GeV}}/L_{1.4 \rm{GHz}})
= 1.7 \pm 0.1_{\rm (statistical)} \pm 0.2_{\rm (dispersion)}$ and
$\log(L_{0.1-100 \rm{GeV}}/L_{8-1000 \mu\rm{m}}) = -4.3 \pm 0.1_{\rm
(statistical)} \pm 0.2_{\rm (dispersion)}$ for a galaxy with a star formation
rate of 1 $M_{\odot}$ yr$^{-1}$, assuming a Chabrier initial mass function.
Using the relationship between infrared luminosity and gamma-ray luminosity,
the collective intensity of unresolved star-forming galaxies at redshifts
$0<z<2.5$ above 0.1 GeV is estimated to be 0.4-2.4 $\times 10^{-6}$ ph
cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ sr$^{-1}$ (4-23% of the intensity of the isotropic diffuse
component measured with the LAT). We anticipate that $\sim10$ galaxies could be
detected by their cosmic-ray induced gamma-ray emission during a 10-year
\textit{Fermi} mission.
06/2012;
-
M. Hayashida,
G. M. Madejski,
K. Nalewajko,
M. Sikora,
A. E. Wehrle,
P. Ogle,
W. Collmar,
S. Larsson,
Y. Fukazawa,
R. Itoh, [......],
T. Sakamoto,
L. A. Sigua,
A. Sillanpaa,
L. Takalo,
J. Tammi,
B. Taylor,
M. Tornikoski,
C. Trigilio,
I. S. Troitsky,
G. Umana
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: We present time-resolved broad-band observations of the quasar 3C 279
obtained from multi-wavelength campaigns conducted during the first two years
of the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope mission. While investigating the
previously reported gamma-ray/optical flare accompanied by a change in optical
polarization, we found that the optical emission appears delayed with respect
to the gamma-ray emission by about 10 days. X-ray observations reveal a pair of
`isolated' flares separated by ~90 days, with only weak gamma-ray/optical
counterparts. The spectral structure measured by Spitzer reveals a synchrotron
component peaking in the mid-infrared band with a sharp break at the
far-infrared band during the gamma-ray flare, while the peak appears in the
mm/sub-mm band in the low state. Selected spectral energy distributions are
fitted with leptonic models including Comptonization of external radiation
produced in a dusty torus or the broad-line region. Adopting the interpretation
of the polarization swing involving propagation of the emitting region along a
curved trajectory, we can explain the evolution of the broad-band spectra
during the gamma-ray flaring event by a shift of its location from ~ 1 pc to ~
4 pc from the central black hole. On the other hand, if the gamma-ray flare is
generated instead at sub-pc distance from the central black hole, the
far-infrared break can be explained by synchrotron self-absorption. We also
model the low spectral state, dominated by the mm/sub-mm peaking synchrotron
component, and suggest that the corresponding inverse-Compton component
explains the steady X-ray emission.
06/2012;
-
The Fermi-LAT collaboration: M. Ackermann,
M. Ajello,
W. B. Atwood,
L. Baldini,
G. Barbiellini,
D. Bastieri,
K. Bechtol,
R. Bellazzini,
R. D. Blandford,
E. D. Bloom, [......],
V. Vasileiou,
G. Vianello,
V. Vitale,
A. P. Waite,
E. Wallace,
K. S. Wood,
M. Wood,
Z. Yang,
G. Zaharijas,
S. Zimmer
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: We have performed an analysis of the diffuse gamma-ray emission with the
Fermi Large Area Telescope in the Milky Way Halo region searching for a signal
from dark matter annihilation or decay. In the absence of a robust dark matter
signal, constraints are presented. We consider both gamma rays produced
directly in the dark matter annihilation/decay and produced by inverse Compton
scattering of the e+e- produced in the annihilation/decay. Conservative limits
are derived requiring that the dark matter signal does not exceed the observed
diffuse gamma-ray emission. A second set of more stringent limits is derived
based on modeling the foreground astrophysical diffuse emission using the
GALPROP code. Uncertainties in the height of the diffusive cosmic-ray halo, the
distribution of the cosmic-ray sources in the Galaxy, the index of the
injection cosmic-ray electron spectrum and the column density of the
interstellar gas are taken into account using a profile likelihood formalism,
while the parameters governing the cosmic-ray propagation have been derived
from fits to local cosmic-ray data. The resulting limits impact the range of
particle masses over which dark matter thermal production in the early Universe
is possible, and challenge the interpretation of the PAMELA/Fermi-LAT cosmic
ray anomalies as annihilation of dark matter.
05/2012;
-
Fermi-LAT Collaboration: M. Ackermann,
M. Ajello,
A. Albert,
L. Baldini,
G. Barbiellini,
K. Bechtol,
R. Bellazzini,
B. Berenji,
R. D. Blandford,
E. D. Bloom, [......],
E. Troja,
J. Vandenbroucke,
V. Vasileiou,
G. Vianello,
V. Vitale,
A. P. Waite,
B. L. Winer,
K. S. Wood,
Z. Yang,
S. Zimmer
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Dark matter particle annihilation or decay can produce monochromatic
gamma-ray lines and contribute to the diffuse gamma-ray background. Flux upper
limits are presented for gamma-ray spectral lines from 7 to 200 GeV and for the
diffuse gamma-ray background from 4.8 GeV to 264 GeV obtained from two years of
Fermi Large Area Telescope data integrated over most of the sky. We give cross
section upper limits and decay lifetime lower limits for dark matter models
that produce gamma-ray lines or contribute to the diffuse spectrum, including
models proposed as explanations of the PAMELA and Fermi cosmic-ray data.
05/2012;
-
M Ackermann,
M Ajello,
A Albert,
L Baldini,
J Ballet,
G Barbiellini,
D Bastieri,
K Bechtol,
R Bellazzini,
E ~D Bloom, [......],
V Vasileiou,
G Vianello,
V Vitale,
A ~P Waite,
B ~L Winer,
K ~S Wood,
M Wood,
Z Yang,
S Zimmer,
E Komatsu
prd. 05/2012; 85(10):109901.
-
M. Ackermann,
M. Ajello,
W. B. Atwood,
L. Baldini,
J. Ballet,
G. Barbiellini,
D. Bastieri,
K. Bechtol,
R. Bellazzini,
B. Berenji, [......],
G. Vianello,
V. Vitale,
A. P. Waite,
P. Wang,
B. L. Winer,
K. S. Wood,
M. Wood,
Z. Yang,
M. Ziegler,
and S. Zimmer
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: The γ-ray sky >100 MeV is dominated by the diffuse emissions from interactions of cosmic rays with the interstellar gas and radiation fields of the Milky Way. Observations of these diffuse emissions provide a tool to study cosmic-ray origin and propagation, and the interstellar medium. We present measurements from the first 21 months of the Fermi Large Area Telescope (Fermi-LAT) mission and compare with models of the diffuse γ-ray emission generated using the GALPROP code. The models are fitted to cosmic-ray data and incorporate astrophysical input for the distribution of cosmic-ray sources, interstellar gas, and radiation fields. To assess uncertainties associated with the astrophysical input, a grid of models is created by varying within observational limits the distribution of cosmic-ray sources, the size of the cosmic-ray confinement volume (halo), and the distribution of interstellar gas. An all-sky maximum-likelihood fit is used to determine the X CO factor, the ratio between integrated CO-line intensity and H2 column density, the fluxes and spectra of the γ-ray point sources from the first Fermi-LAT catalog, and the intensity and spectrum of the isotropic background including residual cosmic rays that were misclassified as γ-rays, all of which have some dependency on the assumed diffuse emission model. The models are compared on the basis of their maximum-likelihood ratios as well as spectra, longitude, and latitude profiles. We also provide residual maps for the data following subtraction of the diffuse emission models. The models are consistent with the data at high and intermediate latitudes but underpredict the data in the inner Galaxy for energies above a few GeV. Possible explanations for this discrepancy are discussed, including the contribution by undetected point-source populations and spectral variations of cosmic rays throughout the Galaxy. In the outer Galaxy, we find that the data prefer models with a flatter distribution of cosmic-ray sources, a larger cosmic-ray halo, or greater gas density than is usually assumed. Our results in the outer Galaxy are consistent with other Fermi-LAT studies of this region that used different analysis methods than employed in this paper.
The Astrophysical Journal 04/2012; 750(1):3. · 6.02 Impact Factor
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M Ackermann,
M Ajello,
A Allafort,
W ~B Atwood,
L Baldini,
G Barbiellini,
D Bastieri,
K Bechtol,
R Bellazzini,
P ~N Bhat, [......],
J Vandenbroucke,
V Vasileiou,
G Vianello,
V Vitale,
A Kienlin,
A ~P Waite,
C Wilson-Hodge,
D ~L Wood,
K ~S Wood,
Z Yang
apj. 04/2012; 748:151.
-
P. L. Nolan,
A. A. Abdo,
M. Ackermann,
M. Ajello,
A. Allafort,
E. Antolini,
W. B. Atwood,
M. Axelsson,
L. Baldini,
J. Ballet, [......],
A. P. Waite,
E. Wallace,
P. Wang,
M. Werner,
B. L. Winer,
D. L. Wood,
K. S. Wood,
M. Wood,
Z. Yang,
and S. Zimmer
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: We present the second catalog of high-energy γ-ray sources detected by the Large Area Telescope (LAT), the primary science instrument on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (Fermi), derived from data taken during the first 24 months of the science phase of the mission, which began on 2008 August 4. Source detection is based on the average flux over the 24 month period. The second Fermi-LAT catalog (2FGL) includes source location regions, defined in terms of elliptical fits to the 95% confidence regions and spectral fits in terms of power-law, exponentially cutoff power-law, or log-normal forms. Also included are flux measurements in five energy bands and light curves on monthly intervals for each source. Twelve sources in the catalog are modeled as spatially extended. We provide a detailed comparison of the results from this catalog with those from the first Fermi-LAT catalog (1FGL). Although the diffuse Galactic and isotropic models used in the 2FGL analysis are improved compared to the 1FGL catalog, we attach caution flags to 162 of the sources to indicate possible confusion with residual imperfections in the diffuse model. The 2FGL catalog contains 1873 sources detected and characterized in the 100 MeV to 100 GeV range of which we consider 127 as being firmly identified and 1171 as being reliably associated with counterparts of known or likely γ-ray-producing source classes.
The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series 03/2012; 199(2):31. · 13.46 Impact Factor
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M. Ackermann,
M. Ajello,
A. Allafort,
L. Baldini,
J. Ballet,
G. Barbiellini,
D. Bastieri,
K. Bechtol,
R. Bellazzini,
B. Berenji, [......],
J. Vandenbroucke,
V. Vasileiou,
G. Vianello,
V. Vitale,
A. P. Waite,
B. L. Winer,
K. S. Wood,
M. Wood,
Z. Yang,
and S. Zimmer
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: We report on a systematic investigation of the γ-ray properties of 120 hard X-ray-selected Seyfert galaxies classified as "radio-quiet" objects, utilizing the three-year accumulation of Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) data. Our sample of Seyfert galaxies is selected using the Swift Burst Alert Telescope 58 month catalog, restricting the analysis to the bright sources with average hard X-ray fluxes F 14 – 195 keV ≥ 2.5 × 10–11 erg cm–2 s–1 at high Galactic latitudes (|b| > 10°). In order to remove "radio-loud" objects from the sample, we use the "hard X-ray radio loudness parameter," R rX, defined as the ratio of the total 1.4 GHz radio to 14-195 keV hard X-ray energy fluxes. Among 120 X-ray bright Seyfert galaxies with R rX <10–4, we did not find a statistically significant γ-ray excess (TS > 25) positionally coincident with any target Seyferts, with possible exceptions of ESO 323-G077 and NGC 6814. The mean value of the 95% confidence level γ-ray upper limit for the integrated photon flux above 100 MeV from the analyzed Seyferts is 4 × 10–9 photons cm–2 s–1 , and the upper limits derived for several objects reach 1 × 10–9 photons cm–2 s–1 . Our results indicate that no prominent γ-ray emission component related to active galactic nucleus activity is present in the spectra of Seyferts around GeV energies. The Fermi-LAT upper limits derived for our sample probe the ratio of γ-ray to X-ray luminosities L γ/L X < 0.1, and even <0.01 in some cases. The obtained results impose novel constraints on the models for high-energy radiation of "radio-quiet" Seyfert galaxies.
The Astrophysical Journal 02/2012; 747(2):104. · 6.02 Impact Factor
