A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
A Luminous and Isolated Gamma-Ray Flare from the Blazar B2 1215+30
Authors: A. U. Abeysekara, S. Archambault, A. Archer, W. Benbow, R. Bird, M. Buchovecky, J. H. Buckley, V. Bugaev, K. Byrum, M. Cerruti, X. Chen, L. Ciupik, W. Cui, H. J. Dickinson, J. D. Eisch, M. Errando, A. Falcone, Q. Feng, J. P. Finley, H. Fleischhack, L. Fortson, A. Furniss, G. H. Gillanders, S. Griffin, J. Grube, M. Hütten, N. Håkansson, D. Hanna, J. Holder, T. B. Humensky, C. A. Johnson, P. Kaaret, P. Kar, M. Kertzman, D. Kieda, M. Krause, F. Krennrich, S. Kumar, M. J. Lang, G. Maier, S. McArthur, A. McCann, K. Meagher, P. Moriarty, R. Mukherjee, T. Nguyen, D. Nieto, R. A. Ong, A. N. Otte, N. Park, V. Pelassa, M. Pohl, A. Popkow, E. Pueschel, J. Quinn, K. Ragan, P. T. Reynolds, G. T. Richards, E. Roache, C. Rulten, M. Santander, G. H. Sembroski, K. Shahinyan, D. Staszak, I. Telezhinsky, J. V. Tucci, J. Tyler, S. P. Wakely, O. M. Weiner, A. Weinstein, A. Wilhelm, D. A. Williams, S. Fegan, B. Giebels, D. Horan, A. Berdyugin, J. Kuan, E. Lindfors, K. Nilsson, A. Oksanen, H. Prokoph, R. Reinthal, L. Takalo, F. Zefi
Publisher: IOP PUBLISHING LTD
Publication year: 2017
Journal: Astrophysical Journal
Journal name in source: ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL
Journal acronym: ASTROPHYS J
Article number: ARTN 205
Volume: 836
Issue: 2
Number of pages: 6
ISSN: 0004-637X
eISSN: 1538-4357
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/836/2/205
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/20539953
B2 1215+30 is a BL-Lac-type blazar that was first detected at TeV energies by the MAGIC atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes and subsequently confirmed by the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) observatory with data collected between 2009 and 2012. In 2014 February 08, VERITAS detected a large-amplitude flare from B2. 1215+30 during routine monitoring observations of the blazar 1ES. 1218+304, located in the same field of view. The TeV flux reached 2.4 times the Crab Nebula flux with a variability timescale of <3.6 hr. Multiwavelength observations with Fermi-LAT, Swift, and the Tuorla Observatory revealed a correlated high GeV flux state and no significant optical counterpart to the flare, with a spectral energy distribution where the gamma-ray luminosity exceeds the synchrotron luminosity. When interpreted in the framework of a onezone leptonic model, the observed emission implies a high degree of beaming, with Doppler factor delta > 10, and an electron population with spectral index p < 2.3.
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