Multiwavelength observations of the previously unidentified blazar RX J0648.7+1516

E. Aliu; T. Aune; M. Beilicke; W. Benbow; M. Böttcher; A. Bouvier; S. M. Bradbury; J. H. Buckley; V. Bugaev; A. Cannon; A. Cesarini; L. Ciupik; M. P. Connolly; W. Cui; G. Decerprit; R. Dickherber; C. Duke; M. Errando; A. Falcone; Q. Feng; G. Finnegan; L. Fortson; A. Furniss; N. Galante; D. Gall; G. H. Gillanders; S. Godambe; S. Griffin; J. Grube; G. Gyuk; D. Hanna; B. Hivick; J. Holder; H. Huan; G. Hughes; C. M. Hui; T. B. Humensky; P. Kaaret; N. Karlsson; M. Kertzman; D. Kieda; H. Krawczynski; F. Krennrich; G. Maier; P. Majumdar; S. McArthur; A. McCann; P. Moriarty; R. Mukherjee; T. Nelson

doi:10.1088/0004-637X/742/2/127

Multiwavelength observations of the previously unidentified blazar RX J0648.7+1516

E. Aliu, T. Aune, M. Beilicke, W. Benbow, M. Böttcher, A. Bouvier, S. M. Bradbury, J. H. Buckley, V. Bugaev, A. Cannon, A. Cesarini, L. Ciupik, M. P. Connolly, W. Cui, G. Decerprit, R. Dickherber, C. Duke, M. Errando, A. Falcone, Q. FengG. Finnegan, L. Fortson, A. Furniss, N. Galante, D. Gall, G. H. Gillanders, S. Godambe, S. Griffin, J. Grube, G. Gyuk, D. Hanna, B. Hivick, J. Holder, H. Huan, G. Hughes, C. M. Hui, T. B. Humensky, P. Kaaret, N. Karlsson, M. Kertzman, D. Kieda, H. Krawczynski, F. Krennrich, G. Maier, P. Majumdar, S. McArthur, A. McCann, P. Moriarty, R. Mukherjee, T. Nelson

Physics and Astronomy (Twin Cities)

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Abstract

We report on the VERITAS discovery of very high energy (VHE) gamma-ray emission above 200GeV from the high-frequency-peaked BL Lac (HBL) object RXJ0648.7+1516 (GBJ0648+1516), associated with 1FGLJ0648.8+1516. The photon spectrum above 200GeV is fitted by a power law dN/dE = F ₀(E/E ₀)^-Γ with a photon index Γ of 4.4 ± 0.8_stat± 0.3_syst and a flux normalization F ₀ of (2.3± 0.5_stat± 1.2_sys) × 10^-11TeV^-1cm^-2 s^-1 with E ₀ = 300GeV. No VHE variability is detected during VERITAS observations of RXJ0648.7+1516 between 2010 March 4 and April 15. Following the VHE discovery, the optical identification and spectroscopic redshift were obtained using the Shane 3 m Telescope at the Lick Observatory, showing the unidentified object to be a BL Lac type with a redshift of z = 0.179. Broadband multiwavelength observations contemporaneous with the VERITAS exposure period can be used to subclassify the blazar as an HBL object, including data from the MDM observatory, Swift-UVOT, and X-Ray Telescope, and continuous monitoring at photon energies above 1GeV from the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT). We find that in the absence of undetected, high-energy rapid variability, the one-zone synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) model overproduces the high-energy gamma-ray emission measured by the Fermi-LAT over 2.3 years. The spectral energy distribution can be parameterized satisfactorily with an external-Compton or lepto-hadronic model, which have two and six additional free parameters, respectively, compared to the one-zone SSC model.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	127
Journal	Astrophysical Journal
Volume	742
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/742/2/127
State	Published - Dec 1 2011

Keywords

gamma rays: galaxies

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Aliu, E., Aune, T., Beilicke, M., Benbow, W., Böttcher, M., Bouvier, A., Bradbury, S. M., Buckley, J. H., Bugaev, V., Cannon, A., Cesarini, A., Ciupik, L., Connolly, M. P., Cui, W., Decerprit, G., Dickherber, R., Duke, C., Errando, M., Falcone, A., ... Nelson, T. (2011). Multiwavelength observations of the previously unidentified blazar RX J0648.7+1516. Astrophysical Journal, 742(2), Article 127. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/742/2/127

Aliu, E, Aune, T, Beilicke, M, Benbow, W, Böttcher, M, Bouvier, A, Bradbury, SM, Buckley, JH, Bugaev, V, Cannon, A, Cesarini, A, Ciupik, L, Connolly, MP, Cui, W, Decerprit, G, Dickherber, R, Duke, C, Errando, M, Falcone, A, Feng, Q, Finnegan, G, Fortson, L, Furniss, A, Galante, N, Gall, D, Gillanders, GH, Godambe, S, Griffin, S, Grube, J, Gyuk, G, Hanna, D, Hivick, B, Holder, J, Huan, H, Hughes, G, Hui, CM, Humensky, TB, Kaaret, P, Karlsson, N, Kertzman, M, Kieda, D, Krawczynski, H, Krennrich, F, Maier, G, Majumdar, P, McArthur, S, McCann, A, Moriarty, P, Mukherjee, R & Nelson, T 2011, 'Multiwavelength observations of the previously unidentified blazar RX J0648.7+1516', Astrophysical Journal, vol. 742, no. 2, 127. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/742/2/127

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title = "Multiwavelength observations of the previously unidentified blazar RX J0648.7+1516",

abstract = "We report on the VERITAS discovery of very high energy (VHE) gamma-ray emission above 200GeV from the high-frequency-peaked BL Lac (HBL) object RXJ0648.7+1516 (GBJ0648+1516), associated with 1FGLJ0648.8+1516. The photon spectrum above 200GeV is fitted by a power law dN/dE = F 0(E/E 0)-Γ with a photon index Γ of 4.4 ± 0.8stat± 0.3syst and a flux normalization F 0 of (2.3± 0.5stat± 1.2sys) × 10-11TeV-1cm-2 s-1 with E 0 = 300GeV. No VHE variability is detected during VERITAS observations of RXJ0648.7+1516 between 2010 March 4 and April 15. Following the VHE discovery, the optical identification and spectroscopic redshift were obtained using the Shane 3 m Telescope at the Lick Observatory, showing the unidentified object to be a BL Lac type with a redshift of z = 0.179. Broadband multiwavelength observations contemporaneous with the VERITAS exposure period can be used to subclassify the blazar as an HBL object, including data from the MDM observatory, Swift-UVOT, and X-Ray Telescope, and continuous monitoring at photon energies above 1GeV from the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT). We find that in the absence of undetected, high-energy rapid variability, the one-zone synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) model overproduces the high-energy gamma-ray emission measured by the Fermi-LAT over 2.3 years. The spectral energy distribution can be parameterized satisfactorily with an external-Compton or lepto-hadronic model, which have two and six additional free parameters, respectively, compared to the one-zone SSC model.",

keywords = "gamma rays: galaxies",

author = "E. Aliu and T. Aune and M. Beilicke and W. Benbow and M. B{\"o}ttcher and A. Bouvier and Bradbury, {S. M.} and Buckley, {J. H.} and V. Bugaev and A. Cannon and A. Cesarini and L. Ciupik and Connolly, {M. P.} and W. Cui and G. Decerprit and R. Dickherber and C. Duke and M. Errando and A. Falcone and Q. Feng and G. Finnegan and L. Fortson and A. Furniss and N. Galante and D. Gall and Gillanders, {G. H.} and S. Godambe and S. Griffin and J. Grube and G. Gyuk and D. Hanna and B. Hivick and J. Holder and H. Huan and G. Hughes and Hui, {C. M.} and Humensky, {T. B.} and P. Kaaret and N. Karlsson and M. Kertzman and D. Kieda and H. Krawczynski and F. Krennrich and G. Maier and P. Majumdar and S. McArthur and A. McCann and P. Moriarty and R. Mukherjee and T. Nelson",

year = "2011",

month = dec,

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doi = "10.1088/0004-637X/742/2/127",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "742",

journal = "Astrophysical Journal",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Multiwavelength observations of the previously unidentified blazar RX J0648.7+1516

AU - Aliu, E.

AU - Aune, T.

AU - Beilicke, M.

AU - Benbow, W.

AU - Böttcher, M.

AU - Bouvier, A.

AU - Bradbury, S. M.

AU - Buckley, J. H.

AU - Bugaev, V.

AU - Cannon, A.

AU - Cesarini, A.

AU - Ciupik, L.

AU - Connolly, M. P.

AU - Cui, W.

AU - Decerprit, G.

AU - Dickherber, R.

AU - Duke, C.

AU - Errando, M.

AU - Falcone, A.

AU - Feng, Q.

AU - Finnegan, G.

AU - Fortson, L.

AU - Furniss, A.

AU - Galante, N.

AU - Gall, D.

AU - Gillanders, G. H.

AU - Godambe, S.

AU - Griffin, S.

AU - Grube, J.

AU - Gyuk, G.

AU - Hanna, D.

AU - Hivick, B.

AU - Holder, J.

AU - Huan, H.

AU - Hughes, G.

AU - Hui, C. M.

AU - Humensky, T. B.

AU - Kaaret, P.

AU - Karlsson, N.

AU - Kertzman, M.

AU - Kieda, D.

AU - Krawczynski, H.

AU - Krennrich, F.

AU - Maier, G.

AU - Majumdar, P.

AU - McArthur, S.

AU - McCann, A.

AU - Moriarty, P.

AU - Mukherjee, R.

AU - Nelson, T.

PY - 2011/12/1

Y1 - 2011/12/1

N2 - We report on the VERITAS discovery of very high energy (VHE) gamma-ray emission above 200GeV from the high-frequency-peaked BL Lac (HBL) object RXJ0648.7+1516 (GBJ0648+1516), associated with 1FGLJ0648.8+1516. The photon spectrum above 200GeV is fitted by a power law dN/dE = F 0(E/E 0)-Γ with a photon index Γ of 4.4 ± 0.8stat± 0.3syst and a flux normalization F 0 of (2.3± 0.5stat± 1.2sys) × 10-11TeV-1cm-2 s-1 with E 0 = 300GeV. No VHE variability is detected during VERITAS observations of RXJ0648.7+1516 between 2010 March 4 and April 15. Following the VHE discovery, the optical identification and spectroscopic redshift were obtained using the Shane 3 m Telescope at the Lick Observatory, showing the unidentified object to be a BL Lac type with a redshift of z = 0.179. Broadband multiwavelength observations contemporaneous with the VERITAS exposure period can be used to subclassify the blazar as an HBL object, including data from the MDM observatory, Swift-UVOT, and X-Ray Telescope, and continuous monitoring at photon energies above 1GeV from the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT). We find that in the absence of undetected, high-energy rapid variability, the one-zone synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) model overproduces the high-energy gamma-ray emission measured by the Fermi-LAT over 2.3 years. The spectral energy distribution can be parameterized satisfactorily with an external-Compton or lepto-hadronic model, which have two and six additional free parameters, respectively, compared to the one-zone SSC model.

AB - We report on the VERITAS discovery of very high energy (VHE) gamma-ray emission above 200GeV from the high-frequency-peaked BL Lac (HBL) object RXJ0648.7+1516 (GBJ0648+1516), associated with 1FGLJ0648.8+1516. The photon spectrum above 200GeV is fitted by a power law dN/dE = F 0(E/E 0)-Γ with a photon index Γ of 4.4 ± 0.8stat± 0.3syst and a flux normalization F 0 of (2.3± 0.5stat± 1.2sys) × 10-11TeV-1cm-2 s-1 with E 0 = 300GeV. No VHE variability is detected during VERITAS observations of RXJ0648.7+1516 between 2010 March 4 and April 15. Following the VHE discovery, the optical identification and spectroscopic redshift were obtained using the Shane 3 m Telescope at the Lick Observatory, showing the unidentified object to be a BL Lac type with a redshift of z = 0.179. Broadband multiwavelength observations contemporaneous with the VERITAS exposure period can be used to subclassify the blazar as an HBL object, including data from the MDM observatory, Swift-UVOT, and X-Ray Telescope, and continuous monitoring at photon energies above 1GeV from the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT). We find that in the absence of undetected, high-energy rapid variability, the one-zone synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) model overproduces the high-energy gamma-ray emission measured by the Fermi-LAT over 2.3 years. The spectral energy distribution can be parameterized satisfactorily with an external-Compton or lepto-hadronic model, which have two and six additional free parameters, respectively, compared to the one-zone SSC model.

KW - gamma rays: galaxies

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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=81255169120&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1088/0004-637X/742/2/127

DO - 10.1088/0004-637X/742/2/127

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:81255169120

SN - 0004-637X

VL - 742

JO - Astrophysical Journal

JF - Astrophysical Journal

IS - 2

M1 - 127

ER -

Multiwavelength observations of the previously unidentified blazar RX J0648.7+1516

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