Browsing by Author "Buson, S."
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Item 2FHL: THE SECOND CATALOG OF HARD FERMI-LAT SOURCES(IOP, 2016-01-14) Mirabal, N.; Buson, S.; et al.We present a catalog of sources detected above 50 GeV by the Fermi-Large Area Telescope (LAT) in 80 months of data. The newly delivered Pass 8 event-level analysis allows the detection and characterization of sources in the 50 GeV–2 TeV energy range. In this energy band, Fermi-LAT has detected 360 sources, which constitute the second catalog of hard Fermi-LAT sources (2FHL). The improved angular resolution enables the precise localization of point sources (~1farcm7 radius at 68% C. L.) and the detection and characterization of spatially extended sources. We find that 86% of the sources can be associated with counterparts at other wavelengths, of which the majority (75%) are active galactic nuclei and the rest (11%) are Galactic sources. Only 25% of the 2FHL sources have been previously detected by Cherenkov telescopes, implying that the 2FHL provides a reservoir of candidates to be followed up at very high energies. This work closes the energy gap between the observations performed at GeV energies by Fermi-LAT on orbit and the observations performed at higher energies by Cherenkov telescopes from the ground.Item DEVELOPMENT OF THE MODEL OF GALACTIC INTERSTELLAR EMISSION FOR STANDARD POINT-SOURCE ANALYSIS OF FERMI LARGE AREA TELESCOPE DATA(IOP, 2016-04-22) Mirabal, N.; Buson, S.; et al.Most of the celestial γ rays detected by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope originate from the interstellar medium when energetic cosmic rays interact with interstellar nucleons and photons. Conventional point-source and extended-source studies rely on the modeling of this diffuse emission for accurate characterization. Here, we describe the development of the Galactic Interstellar Emission Model (GIEM), which is the standard adopted by the LAT Collaboration and is publicly available. This model is based on a linear combination of maps for interstellar gas column density in Galactocentric annuli and for the inverse-Compton emission produced in the Galaxy. In the GIEM, we also include large-scale structures like Loop I and the Fermi bubbles. The measured gas emissivity spectra confirm that the cosmic-ray proton density decreases with Galactocentric distance beyond 5 kpc from the Galactic Center. The measurements also suggest a softening of the proton spectrum with Galactocentric distance. We observe that the Fermi bubbles have boundaries with a shape similar to a catenary at latitudes below 20° and we observe an enhanced emission toward their base extending in the north and south Galactic directions and located within ~4° of the Galactic Center.Item Fermi LAT detection of a GeV flare from the gravitationally lensed FSRQ PKS 1830-211(The Astronomer's Telegram, 2014-08-02) Krauss, F.; Ojha, R.; Buson, S.Item High-Energy Polarimetry - a new window to probe extreme physics in AGN jets(2019-03-11) Rani, B.; Zhang, H.; Hunter, S. D.; Kislat, F.; Böttcher, M.; McEnery, J. E.; Thompson, D. J.; Giannios, D.; Guo, F.; Li, H.; Baring, M.; Agudo, I.; Buson, S.; Petropoulou, M.; Pavlidou, V.; Angelakis, E.; Myserlis, I.; Wadiasingh, Z.; Silva, R. M. Curado da; Kilian, P.; Guiriec, S.; Bozhilov, V. V.; Hodgson, J.; Antón, S.; Kazanas, D.; Coppi, P.; Venters, T.; Longo, F.; Bottacini, E.; Ojha, R.; Zhang, B.; Ciprini, S.; Moiseev, A.; Shrader, C.The constantly improving sensitivity of ground-based and space-borne observatories has made possible the detection of high-energy emission (X-rays and gamma-rays) from several thousands of extragalactic sources. Enormous progress has been made in measuring the continuum flux enabling us to perform imaging, spectral and timing studies. An important remaining challenge for high-energy astronomy is measuring polarization. The capability to measure polarization is being realized currently at X-ray energies (e.g. with IXPE), and sensitive gamma-ray telescopes capable of measuring polarization, such as AMEGO, AdEPT, e-ASTROGAM, etc., are being developed. These future gamma-ray telescopes will probe the radiation mechanisms and magnetic fields of relativistic jets from active galactic nuclei at spatial scales much smaller than the angular resolution achieved with continuum observations of the instrument. In this white paper, we discuss the scientific potentials of high-energy polarimetry, especially gamma-ray polarimetry, including the theoretical implications, and observational technology advances being made. In particular, we will explore the primary scientific opportunities and wealth of information expected from synergy of multi-wavelength polarimetry that will be brought to multi-messenger astronomy.Item Neutrinos, Cosmic Rays and the MeV Band(2019-03-13) Ojha, R.; Zhang, H.; Kadler, M.; Neilson, N. K.; Kreter, M.; McEnery, J.; Buson, S.; Caputo, R.; Coppi, P.; D'Ammando, F.; Angelis, A. De; Fang, K.; Giannios, D.; Guiriec, S.; Guo, F.; Kopp, J.; Krauss, F.; Li, H.; Meyer, M.; Moiseev, A.; Petropoulou, M.; Prescod-Weinstein, C.; Rani, B.; Shrader, C.; Venters, T.; Wadiasingh, Z.The possible association of the blazar TXS 0506+056 with a high-energy neutrino detected by IceCube holds the tantalizing potential to answer three astrophysical questions: 1. Where do high-energy neutrinos originate? 2. Where are cosmic rays produced and accelerated? 3. What radiation mechanisms produce the high-energy gamma-rays in blazars? The MeV gamma-ray band holds the key to these questions, because it is an excellent proxy for photo-hadronic processes in blazar jets, which also produce neutrino counterparts. Variability in MeV gamma-rays sheds light on the physical conditions and mechanisms that take place in the particle acceleration sites in blazar jets. In addition, hadronic blazar models also predict a high level of polarization fraction in the MeV band, which can unambiguously distinguish the radiation mechanism. Future MeV missions with a large field of view, high sensitivity, and polarization capabilities will play a central role in multi-messenger astronomy, since pointed, high-resolution telescopes will follow neutrino alerts only when triggered by an all-sky instrument.Item On the Detection Potential of Blazar Flares for Current Neutrino Telescopes(IOP Publishing, 2020-10-21) Kreter, M.; Kadler, M.; Krauß, F.; Mannheim, K.; Buson, S.; Ojha, R.; Wilms, J.; Böttcher, M.Blazar jets are extreme environments, in which relativistic proton interactions with an ultraviolet photon field could give rise to photopion production. High-confidence associations of individual high-energy neutrinos with blazar flares could be achieved via spatially and temporally coincident detections. In 2017, the track-like, extremely high-energy neutrino event IC 170922A was found to coincide with increased γ-ray emission from the blazar TXS 0506+056, leading to the identification of the most promising neutrino point source candidate so far. We calculate the expected number of neutrino events that can be detected with IceCube, based on a broadband parametrization of bright short-term blazar flares that were observed in the first 6.5 years of \textit{Fermi}/LAT observations. We find that the integrated keV-to-GeV fluence of most individual blazar flares is far too small to yield a substantial Poisson probability for the detection of one or more neutrinos with IceCube. We show that the sample of potentially detectable high-energy neutrinos from individual blazar flares is rather small. We further show that the blazars 3C 279 and PKS 1510−089 dominate the all-sky neutrino prediction from bright and short-term blazar flares. In the end, we discuss strategies to search for more significant associations in future data unblindings of IceCube and KM3NeT.Item Search for High-redshift Blazars with Fermi/LAT(IOP Publishing, 2020-11-10) Kreter, M.; Gokus, A.; Krauss, F.; Kadler, M.; Ojha, R.; Buson, S.; Wilms, J.; Böttcher, M.High-z blazars (z ≥2.5) are the most powerful class of persistent γ-ray sources in the Universe. These objects possess the highest jet powers and luminosities and have black hole masses often in excess of 10⁹ solar masses. In addition, high-z blazars are important cosmological probes and serve as test objects for blazar evolution models. Due to their large distance, their high-energy emission typically peaks below the GeV range, which makes them difficult to study with Fermi/LAT. Therefore, only the very brightest objects are detectable and, to date, only a small number of high-z blazars have been detected with Fermi/LAT. In this work, we studied the monthly binned long-term γ-ray emission of a sample of 176 radio and optically detected blazars that have not been reported as known γ-ray sources in the 3FGL catalog. In order to account for false-positive detections, we calculated monthly Fermi/LAT light curves for a large sample of blank sky positions and derived the number of random fluctuations that we expect at various test statistic (TS) levels. For a given blazar, a detection of TS > 9 in at least one month is expected ∼15% of the time. Although this rate is too high to secure detection of an individual source, half of our sample shows such single-month γ-ray activity, indicating a population of high-energy blazars at distances of up to z=5.2. Multiple TS > 9 monthly detections are unlikely to happen by chance, and we have detected several individual new sources in this way, including the most distant γ-ray blazar, BZQ J1430+4204 (z = 4.72). Finally, two new γ-ray blazars at redshifts of z = 3.63 and z = 3.11 are unambiguously detected via very significant (TS > 25) flares in individual monthly time bins.Item The TANAMI Multiwavelength Program: Dynamic spectral energy distributions of southern blazars(EDP sciences, 2018-03-03) Krauß, F.; Wilms, J.; Kadler, M.; Ojha, R.; Schulz, R.; Trüstedt, J.; Edwards, P. G.; Stevens, J.; Ros, E.; Baumgartner, W.; Beuchert, T.; Blanchard, J.; Buson, S.; Carpenter, B.; Dauser, T.; Falkner, S.; Gehrels, N.; Graefe, C.; Gulyaev, S.; Hase, H.; Horiuchi, S.; Kreikenbohm, I.; Langejahn, M.; Leiter, K.; Lovell, J. E. J.; Müller, C.; Natusch, T.; Nesci, R.; Pursimo, T.; Phillips, C.; Plötz, C.; Quick, J.; Tzioumis, A. K.; Weston, S.Context. Simultaneous broadband spectral and temporal studies of blazars are an important tool for investigating active galactic nuclei (AGN) jet physics. Aims. We study the spectral evolution between quiescent and flaring periods of 22 radio-loud AGN through multiepoch, quasi-simultaneous broadband spectra. For many of these sources these are the first broadband studies. Methods. We use a Bayesian block analysis of Fermi/LAT light curves to determine time ranges of constant flux for constructing quasi-simultaneous spectral energy distributions (SEDs). The shapes of the resulting 81 SEDs are described by two logarithmic parabolas and a blackbody spectrum where needed. Results. The peak frequencies and luminosities agree well with the blazar sequence for low states with higher luminosity implying lower peak frequencies. This is not true for sources in high states. The γ-ray photon index in Fermi/LAT correlates with the synchrotron peak frequency in low and intermediate states. No correlation is present in high states. The black hole mass cannot be determined from the SEDs. Surprisingly, the thermal excess often found in FSRQs at optical/UV wavelengths can be described by blackbody emission and not an accretion disk spectrum. Conclusions. The so-called harder-when-brighter trend, typically seen in X-ray spectra of flaring blazars, is visible in the blazar sequence. Our results for low and intermediate states, as well as the Compton dominance, are in agreement with previous results. Black hole mass estimates using recently published parameters are in agreement with some of the more direct measurements. For two sources, estimates disagree by more than four orders of magnitude, possibly owing to boosting effects. The shapes of the thermal excess seen predominantly in flat spectrum radio quasars are inconsistent with a direct accretion disk origin.Item Unusual flaring activity in the blazar PKS 1424−418 during 2008−2011(EDP sciences, 2014-09-16) Buson, S.; Longo, F.; Larsson, S.; Cutini, S.; Finke, J.; Ciprini, S.; Ojha, R.; D'Ammando, F.; Donato, D.; Thompson, D. J.; Desiante, R.; Bastieri, D.; Wagner, S.; Hauser, M.; Fuhrmann, L.; Dutka, M.; Müller, C.; Kadler, M.; Angelakis, E.; Zensus, J. A.; Stevens, J.; Blanchard, J. M.; Edwards, P. G.; Lovell, J. E. J.; Gurwell, M. A.; Wehrle, A. E.; Zook, A.Context. Blazars are a subset of active galactic nuclei (AGN) with jets that are oriented along our line of sight. Variability and spectral energy distribution (SED) studies are crucial tools for understanding the physical processes responsible for observed AGN emission. Aims. We report peculiar behavior in the bright γ-ray blazar PKS 1424−418 and use its strong variability to reveal information about the particle acceleration and interactions in the jet. Methods. Correlation analysis of the extensive optical coverage by the ATOM telescope and nearly continuous γ-ray coverage by the Fermi Large Area Telescope is combined with broadband, time-dependent modeling of the SED incorporating supplemental information from radio and X-ray observations of this blazar. Results. We analyse in detail four bright phases at optical-GeV energies. These flares of PKS 1424−418 show high correlation between these energy ranges, with the exception of one large optical flare that coincides with relatively low γ-ray activity. Although the optical/γ-ray behavior of PKS 1424−418 shows variety, the multiwavelength modeling indicates that these differences can largely be explained by changes in the flux and energy spectrum of the electrons in the jet that are radiating. We find that for all flares the SED is adequately represented by a leptonic model that includes inverse Compton emission from external radiation fields with similar parameters. Conclusions. Detailed studies of individual blazars like PKS 1424−418 during periods of enhanced activity in different wavebands are helping us identify underlying patterns in the physical parameters in this class of AGN.