An Exceptional Very High Energy Gamma-Ray Flare of PKS 2155-304

Aharonian, F.; Akhperjanian, A. G.; Bazer‐Bachi, A. R.; Beilicke, M.; Benbow, W.; Berge, D.; Bernlöhr, K.; Boisson, C.; Bolz, O.; Borrel, V.; Braun, I.; Brion, E.; Brown, A. M.; Bühler, R.; Büsching, I.; Boutelier, T.; Carrigan, S.; Chadwick, P. M.; Chounet, L.‐M.; Coignet, G.; Cornils, R.; Costamante, L.; Degrange, B.; Dickinson, H. J.; Djannati‐Ataï, A.; Drury, L. O’c.; Dubus, G.; Egberts, K.; Emmanoulopoulos, D.; Espigat, P.; Farnier, C.; Feinstein, F.; Ferrero, E.; Fiaßon, A.; Fontaine, G.; Funk, S.; Füling, M.; Gallant, Y. A.; Giebels, B.; Glicenstein, J. F.; Glück, B.; Goret, P.; Hadjichristidis, C.; Hauser, D.; Hauser, M.; Heinzelmann, G.; Henri, G.; Hermann, G.; Hinton, J. A.; Hoffmann, A.; Hofmann, W.; Holleran, M.; Hoppe, S.; Horns, D.; Jachołkowska, A.; Jager, O. C. de; Kendziorra, E.; Kerschhaggl, M.; Khélifi, B.; Komin, Nu.; Kosack, K.; Lamanna, G.; Latham, I. J.; Gallou, R. Le; Lemière, A.; Lemoine‐Goumard, M.; Löhse, T.; Martin, Jean‐Michel; Martineau‐Huynh, O.; Marcowith, A.; Masterson, C.; Maurin, G.; McComb, T. J. L.; Moulin, Emmanuel; Naurois, M. de; Nedbal, D.; Nolan, S. J.; Noutsos, A.; Olive, J.-P.; Orford, K. J.; Osborne, J. L.; Panter, M.; Pelletier, G.; Petrucci, Pierre-Olivier; Pita, S.; Pühlhofer, G.; Punch, M.; Ranchon, S.; Raubenheimer, B. C.; Raue, M.; Rayner, S. M.; Reimer, O.; Ripken, J.; Rob, L.; Rolland, L.; Rosier‐Lees, S.; Rowell, G.; Sahakian, V.; Santangelo, A.; Saugé, L.; Schlenker, S.; Schlickeiser, R.; Schröder, R.; Schwanke, U.; Schwarzburg, S.; Schwemmer, S.; Shalchi, A.; Sol, H.; Spangler, D.; Spanier, F.; Steenkamp, R.; Stegmann, C.; Superina, G.; Tam, P. H. T.; Tavernet, J.‐P.; Terrier, R.; Tluczykont, M.; Eldik, C. van; Vasileiadis, G.; Venter, C.; Vialle, J. P.; Vincent, P.; Völk, H. J.; Wagner, S. J.; Ward, M. J.

doi:10.1086/520635

Cited by 731 publications

(460 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…This dedication to monitoring in combination with the high duty cycle make FACT an ideal instrument to study the temporal evolution of AGN. AGN show highly variable fluxes on different time scales over a broad range of the electromagnetic spectrum [3]. An underlying periodicity in this variability has been claimed in γ-rays in [4], where a sinusoidal signal with a 23-day period is stated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

FACT - Searching for periodicity in five-year light-curves of Active Galactic Nuclei

Mahlke¹,

Adam²,

Ahnen³

et al. 2017

Proceedings of 35th International Cosmic Ray Conference — PoS(ICRC2017)

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The First G-APD Cherenkov Telescope (FACT) has been monitoring Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) for the past five years. The use of robust silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) allows for a continuous, unbiased sampling even during bright-light conditions. This dataset promises insights into the core regions of AGN by investigating the periodicity of the sources. Periodic changes in the flux could indicate a binary nature of the supermassive black holes. A study using the Lomb-Scargle periodogram to find periodicity in monitored AGN is presented. Repeating patterns in the observation times, like moon periods and seasonal effects, affect the analysis by introducing spurious peaks into the periodogram. The zenith-dependence of the observed γ-ray rates further complicate the interpretation. Showing no variability at TeV energies, the γ -ray flux of the Crab Nebula is used to characterize this latter effect, before applying the Lomb-Scargle algorithm.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

FACT - Searching for periodicity in five-year light-curves of Active Galactic Nuclei

Mahlke¹,

Adam²,

Ahnen³

et al. 2017

Proceedings of 35th International Cosmic Ray Conference — PoS(ICRC2017)

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“…The recently discovered ultra-fast TeV flares from several blazars 5 (see, e.g., Aharonian et al 2007;Albert et al 2007) are strongly challenging the models for the blazar emission (Ghisellini and Tavecchio 2008;Giannios et al 2009). This rare but generic blazar activity has several very revealing properties.…”

Section: Jets From Active Galactic Nucleiimentioning

confidence: 99%

Relativistic Magnetic Reconnection in Pair Plasmas and Its Astrophysical Applications

Kagan¹,

Sironi²,

Cerutti³

et al. 2016

The Strongest Magnetic Fields in the Universe

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This review discusses the physics of magnetic reconnection -a process in which the magnetic field topology changes and magnetic energy is converted to kinetic energy -in pair plasmas in the relativistic regime. We focus on recent progress in the field driven by theory advances and the maturity of particle-in-cell codes. This work shows that fragmentation instabilities at the current sheet can play a critical role in setting the reconnection speed and affect the resulting particle acceleration, anisotropy, bulk flows, and radiation. Then, we discuss how this novel understanding of relativistic reconnection can be applied to high-energy astrophysical phenomena, with an emphasis on pulsars, pulsar wind nebulae, and active galactic nucleus jets.

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“…Such microvariability has been reported over wide ranges of wavelengths from radio [4] to optical [5,6], X-ray [3], GeV, and TeV bands [7]. The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope scans the entire γ-ray sky every three hours, and has detected flares, large-amplitude variations, in a number of blazars [8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Study of the Time-Series of Microvariability in Kepler Blazar W2R 1926+42

et al. 2017

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Abstract:One of the remarkable features of blazars is violent variability over a wide wavelength range. The variation mechanism causing the observed complex behavior is still under debate. The variability timescales range from less than a day to decades. Variation on timescales less than a day is known as "microvariability." Such short-term variations can provide insights regarding the origin of the variability after they are distinguished from longer-term variational components. We select about 195 microvariability events from the continuous light curve of blazar W2R 1926+42 with 1-min time resolution obtained by the Kepler spacecraft, and estimate the timescale and amplitude of each event. The rise and decay timescales of the events reveal random variations over short timescales less than a day, but they indicate systematic variations on timescales longer than several days. This result implies that the events are not independent, but rather mutually correlated.

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An Exceptional Very High Energy Gamma-Ray Flare of PKS 2155-304

Cited by 731 publications

References 22 publications

FACT - Searching for periodicity in five-year light-curves of Active Galactic Nuclei

FACT - Searching for periodicity in five-year light-curves of Active Galactic Nuclei

Relativistic Magnetic Reconnection in Pair Plasmas and Its Astrophysical Applications

Study of the Time-Series of Microvariability in Kepler Blazar W2R 1926+42

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