Bibcode
Aleksić, J.; Anderhub, H.; Antonelli, L. A.; Antoranz, P.; Backes, M.; Baixeras, C.; Balestra, S.; Barrio, J. A.; Bastieri, D.; Becerra-González, J.; Becker, J. K.; Bednarek, W.; Berdyugin, A.; Berger, K.; Bernardini, E.; Biland, A.; Bock, R. K.; Bonnoli, G.; Bordas, P.; Borla Tridon, D.; Bosch-Ramon, V.; Bose, D.; Braun, I.; Bretz, T.; Britzger, D.; Camara, M.; Carmona, E.; Carosi, A.; Colin, P.; Commichau, S.; Contreras, J. L.; Cortina, J.; Costado, M. T.; Covino, S.; Dazzi, F.; de Angelis, A.; de Cea Del Pozo, E.; de Los Reyes, R.; de Lotto, B.; de Maria, M.; de Sabata, F.; Delgado-Mendez, C.; Doert, M.; Domínguez, A.; Dominis Prester, D.; Dorner, D.; Doro, M.; Elsaesser, D.; Errando, M.; Ferenc, D.; Fonseca, M. V.; Font, L.; García-López, R. J.; Garczarczyk, M.; Gaug, M.; Godinovic, N.; Hadasch, D.; Herrero, A.; Hildebrand, D.; Höhne-Mönch, D.; Hose, J.; Hrupec, D.; Hsu, C. C.; Jogler, T.; Klepser, S.; Krähenbühl, T.; Kranich, D.; La Barbera, A.; Laille, A.; Leonardo, E.; Lindfors, E.; Lombardi, S.; Longo, F.; López, M.; Lorenz, E.; Majumdar, P.; Maneva, G.; Mankuzhiyil, N.; Mannheim, K.; Maraschi, L.; Mariotti, M.; Martínez, M.; Mazin, D.; Meucci, M.; Miranda, J. M.; Mirzoyan, R.; Miyamoto, H.; Moldón, J.; Moles, M.; Moralejo, A.; Nieto, D.; Nilsson, K.; Ninkovic, J.; Orito, R.; Oya, I.; Paoletti, R.; Paredes, J. M.; Partini, S.; Pasanen, M.; Pascoli, D. et al.
Bibliographical reference
Astronomy and Astrophysics, Volume 519, id.A32
Advertised on:
9
2010
Journal
Citations
34
Refereed citations
30
Description
Context. Wide-range spectral coverage of blazar-type active galactic
nuclei is of paramount importance for understanding the particle
acceleration mechanisms assumed to take place in their jets. The Major
Atmospheric Gamma Imaging Cerenkov (MAGIC) telescope participated in
three multiwavelength (MWL) campaigns, observing the blazar Markarian
(Mkn) 421 during the nights of April 28 and 29, 2006, and June 14, 2006.
Aims: We analyzed the corresponding MAGIC very-high energy
observations during 9 nights from April 22 to 30, 2006 and on June 14,
2006. We inferred light curves with sub-day resolution and
night-by-night energy spectra. Methods: MAGIC detects
γ-rays by observing extended air showers in the atmosphere. The
obtained air-shower images were analyzed using the standard MAGIC
analysis chain. Results: A strong γ-ray signal was detected
from Mkn 421 on all observation nights. The flux (E > 250 GeV) varied
on night-by-night basis between (0.92±0.11) ×
10-10 cm-2 s-1 (0.57 Crab units) and
(3.21±0.15) × 10-10 cm-2
s-1 (2.0 Crab units) in April 2006. There is a clear
indication for intra-night variability with a doubling time of
36±10_stat min on the night of April 29, 2006, establishing once
more rapid flux variability for this object. For all individual nights
γ-ray spectra could be inferred, with power-law indices ranging
from 1.66 to 2.47. We did not find statistically significant
correlations between the spectral index and the flux state for
individual nights. During the June 2006 campaign, a flux substantially
lower than the one measured by the Whipple 10-m telescope four days
later was found. Using a log-parabolic power law fit we deduced for some
data sets the location of the spectral peak in the very-high energy
regime. Our results confirm the indications of rising peak energy with
increasing flux, as expected in leptonic acceleration models.
Related projects
Particle Astrophysics
The MAGIC Collaboration is integrated by 20 research institutes and university departments from Armenia, Bulgaria, Finland, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, Switzerland and USA. The collaboration comprises two 17m diameter telescopes, located at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, designed to measure the Cherenkov radiation associated with
Ramón
García López