Engineering topics

Allafort, A

Publications and source records attributed to Allafort, A.

22 records · Page 2

DOE OSTI2010

FERMI LARGE AREA TELESCOPE CONSTRAINTS ON THE GAMMA-RAY OPACITY OF THE UNIVERSE

The extragalactic background light (EBL) includes photons with wavelengths from ultraviolet to infrared, which are effective at attenuating gamma rays with energy above {approx}10 GeV during propagation from sources at cosmological distances. This results in a redshift- and energy-dependent attenuation of the {gamma}-ray flux of extragalactic sources such as blazars and gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). The Large Area Telescope on board Fermi detects a sample of {gamma}-ray blazars with redshift up to z {approx} 3, and GRBs with redshift up to z {approx} 4.3. Using photons above 10 GeV collected by Fermi over more than one year of observations for these sources, we investigate the effect of {gamma}-ray flux attenuation by the EBL. We place upper limits on the {gamma}-ray opacity of the universe at various energies and redshifts and compare this with predictions from well-known EBL models. We find that an EBL intensity in the optical-ultraviolet wavelengths as great as predicted by the 'baseline' model of Stecker et al. can be ruled out with high confidence.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2010

FERMI LARGE AREA TELESCOPE OBSERVATION OF A GAMMA-RAY SOURCE AT THE POSITION OF ETA CARINAE

The Large Area Telescope (LAT) on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope detected a {gamma}-ray source that is spatially consistent with the location of Eta Carinae. This source has been persistently bright since the beginning of the LAT survey observations (from 2008 August to 2009 July, the time interval considered here). The {gamma}-ray signal is detected significantly throughout the LAT energy band (i.e., up to {approx}100 GeV). The 0.1-100 GeV energy spectrum is well represented by a combination of a cutoff power-law model (<10 GeV) and a hard power-law component (>10 GeV). The total flux (>100 MeV) is 3.7{sup +0.3}{sub -0.1} x 10{sup -7} photons s{sup -1} cm{sup -2}, with additional systematic uncertainties of 10%, and consistent with the average flux measured by AGILE. The light curve obtained by Fermi is consistent with steady emission. Our observations do not confirm the presence of a {gamma}-ray flare in 2008 October, as reported by Tavani et al., although we cannot exclude that a flare lasting only a few hours escaped detection by the Fermi LAT. We also do not find any evidence for {gamma}-ray variability that correlates with the large X-ray variability of Eta Carinae observed during 2008 December and 2009 January. We are thus not able to establish an unambiguous identification of the LAT source with Eta Carinae.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2010

FERMI LARGE AREA TELESCOPE AND MULTI-WAVELENGTH OBSERVATIONS OF THE FLARING ACTIVITY OF PKS 1510-089 BETWEEN 2008 SEPTEMBER AND 2009 JUNE

We report on the multi-wavelength observations of PKS 1510-089 (a flat spectrum radio quasar (FSRQ) at z = 0.361) during its high activity period between 2008 September and 2009 June. During this 11 month period, the source was characterized by a complex variability at optical, UV, and {gamma}-ray bands, on timescales down to 6-12 hr. The brightest {gamma}-ray isotropic luminosity, recorded on 2009 March 26, was {approx_equal}2 x 10{sup 48} erg s{sup -1}. The spectrum in the Fermi Large Area Telescope energy range shows a mild curvature described well by a log-parabolic law, and can be understood as due to the Klein-Nishina effect. The {gamma}-ray flux has a complex correlation with the other wavelengths. There is no correlation at all with the X-ray band, a weak correlation with the UV, and a significant correlation with the optical flux. The {gamma}-ray flux seems to lead the optical one by about 13 days. From the UV photometry, we estimated a black hole mass of {approx_equal}5.4 x 10{sup 8} M{sub sun} and an accretion rate of {approx_equal}0.5 M{sub sun} yr{sup -1}. Although the power in the thermal and non-thermal outputs is smaller compared to the very luminous and distant FSRQs, PKS 1510-089 exhibits a quite large Compton dominance and a prominent big blue bump (BBB) as observed in the most powerful {gamma}-ray quasars. The BBB was still prominent during the historical maximum optical state in 2009 May, but the optical/UV spectral index was softer than in the quiescent state. This seems to indicate that the BBB was not completely dominated by the synchrotron emission during the highest optical state. We model the broadband spectrum assuming a leptonic scenario in which the inverse Compton emission is dominated by the scattering of soft photons produced externally to the jet. The resulting model-dependent jet energetic content is compatible with a scenario in which the jet is powered by the accretion disk, with a total efficiency within the Kerr black hole limit.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2010

FERMI LARGE AREA TELESCOPE OBSERVATIONS OF THE SUPERNOVA REMNANT W28 (G6.4-0.1)

We present detailed analysis of two gamma-ray sources, 1FGL J1801.3-2322c and 1FGL J1800.5-2359c, that have been found toward the supernova remnant (SNR) W28 with the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. 1FGL J1801.3-2322c is found to be an extended source within the boundary of SNR W28, and to extensively overlap with the TeV gamma-ray source HESS J1801-233, which is associated with a dense molecular cloud interacting with the SNR. The gamma-ray spectrum measured with the LAT from 0.2 to 100 GeV can be described by a broken power-law function with a break at {approx}1 GeV and photon indices of 2.09 {+-} 0.08 (stat) {+-} 0.28 (sys) below the break and 2.74 {+-} 0.06 (stat) {+-} 0.09 (sys) above the break. Given the clear association between HESS J1801-233 and the shocked molecular cloud and a smoothly connected spectrum in the GeV-TeV band, we consider the origin of the gamma-ray emission in both GeV and TeV ranges to be the interaction between particles accelerated in the SNR and the molecular cloud. The decay of neutral pions produced in interactions between accelerated hadrons and dense molecular gas provides a reasonable explanation for the broadband gamma-ray spectrum. 1FGL J1800.5-2359c, located outside the southern boundary of SNR W28, cannot be resolved. An upper limit on the size of the gamma-ray emission was estimated to be {approx}16' using events above {approx}2 GeV under the assumption of a circular shape with uniform surface brightness. It appears to coincide with the TeV source HESS J1800-240B, which is considered to be associated with a dense molecular cloud that contains the ultra compact H II region W28A2 (G5.89-0.39). We found no significant gamma-ray emission in the LAT energy band at the positions of TeV sources HESS J1800-230A and HESS J1800-230C. The LAT data for HESS J1800-230A combined with the TeV data points indicate a spectral break between 10 GeV and 100 GeV.

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