Discovery of very high energy γ-rays from the Blazar S5 0716+714

The MAGIC Collaboration reports the detection of the blazar S5 0716+714 (z = 0.31 ± 0.08) in very high energy gamma rays. The observations were performed in 2007 November and in 2008 April, and were triggered by the Kungliga Vetenskapliga Akademi telescope due to the high optical state of the object...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: MAGIC Collaboration, Paredes i Poy, Josep Maria, Ribó Gomis, Marc, Bosch i Ramon, Valentí
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2009
Country:España
Institution:Universidad de Barcelona
Repository:Dipòsit Digital de la UB
OAI Identifier:oai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/150126
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/150126
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Raigs gamma
Observacions astronòmiques
Gamma rays
Astronomical observations
Description
Summary:The MAGIC Collaboration reports the detection of the blazar S5 0716+714 (z = 0.31 ± 0.08) in very high energy gamma rays. The observations were performed in 2007 November and in 2008 April, and were triggered by the Kungliga Vetenskapliga Akademi telescope due to the high optical state of the object. An overall significance of the signal accounts to S = 5.8σ for 13.1 hr of data. Most of the signal (S = 6.9σ) comes from the 2008 April data sample during a higher optical state of the object suggesting a possible correlation between the Very High Energy γ-ray and optical emissions. The differential energy spectrum of the 2008 data sample follows a power law with a photon index of Γ = 3.45 ± 0.54stat ± 0.2syst, and the integral flux above 400 GeV is at the level of (7.5 ± 2.2stat ± 2.3syst) × 10-12 cm-2 s-1, corresponding to a 9% Crab Nebula flux. Modeling of the broadband spectral energy distribution indicates that a structured jet model appears to be more promising in describing the available data than a simple one-zone synchrotron self-Compton model.