1. Cutoff in the TeV Energy Spectrum of Markarian 421 During Strong Flares in 2001
- Author
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Krennrich, F., Badran, H. M., Bond, I. H., Bradbury, S. M., Buckley, J. H., Carter-Lewis, D. A., Catanese, M., Cui, W., Dunlea, S., Das, D., Perez, I. de la Calle, Fegan, D. J., Fegan, S. J., Finley, J. P., Gaidos, J. A., Gibbs, K., Gillanders, G. H., Hall, T. A., Hillas, A. M., Holder, J., Horan, D., Jordan, M., Kertzman, M., Kieda, D., Kildea, J., Knapp, J., Kosack, K., Lang, M. J., LeBohec, S., McKernan, B., Moriarty, P., M��ller, D., Ong, R., Pallassini, R., Petry, D., Quinn, J., Reay, N. W., Reynolds, P. T., Rose, H. J., Sembroski, G. H., Sidwell, R., Stanton, N., Swordy, S. P., Vassiliev, V. V., Wakely, S. P., and Weekes, T. C.
- Subjects
Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ,Astrophysics (astro-ph) ,FOS: Physical sciences ,High Energy Physics::Experiment ,Astrophysics - Abstract
Exceptionally strong and long lasting flaring activity of the blazar Markarian 421 (Mrk 421) occurred between January and March 2001. Based on the excellent signal-to-noise ratio of the data we derive the energy spectrum between 260 GeV - 17 TeV with unprecedented statistical precision. The spectrum is not well described by a simple power law even with a curvature term. Instead the data can be described by a power law with exponential cutoff: $\rm {{dN}\over{dE}} \propto \rm E^{-2.14 \pm 0.03_{stat}} \times e^{-E/E_{0}} m^{-2} s^{-1} TeV^{-1}$ with $\rm E_{0} = 4.3 \pm 0.3_{stat} TeV$. Mrk 421 is the second $\gamma$-ray blazar that unambiguously exhibits an absorption-like feature in its spectral energy distribution at 3-6 TeV suggesting that this may be a universal phenomenon, possibly due to the extragalactic infra-red background radiation., Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, submitted to ApJL
- Published
- 2001