Search

ALMA's high-resolution images allow to resolve the filamentary structure of the ISM down to few thousand au at kpc distances. We aim to systematically quantify the impact of the interferometric response and the effects of the short-spacing information during the characterization of the ISM structure using ALMA observations. We create a series of continuum ALMA synthetic observations to test the recovery of the observational properties of dense cores and filaments (i.e. intensity peak, radial profile, and width) at different scales. We compare the results obtained with and without different data combination techniques using different ALMA arrays and SD telescopes in simulated data and real observations. Our analysis illustrates the severity of interferometric filtering effects. ALMA-12m alone observations show significant scale-dependent flux losses systematically corrupting (>30%error) all the physical properties inferred in cores and filaments (i.e. column density, mass, and size) before the maximum recoverable scale of the interferometer. These effects are only partially mitigated by the addition of the ALMA ACA-7m array although degrading the telescope PSF. Our results demonstrate only the addition of the ALMA Total Power information allows to recover the true sky emission down to few times the ALMA beamsize with satisfactory accuracy (<10% error). Additional tests demonstrate the emission recovery at all scales is further improved if the 7mTP data are replaced by maps obtained by a larger SD telescope (e.g., IRAM-30m), even if the latter are noisier than expected. These observational biases particularly affect partially resolved targets, becoming critical especially for studies in nearby regions such as Taurus or Orion. Our results demonstrate the need for the use of data combination techniques to accurately characterize the complex physical structure of the ISM in the ALMA era., Comment: accepted by Astronomy & Astrophysics (AA48920-23)

(Abridged) Recent molecular surveys have revealed a rich gas organization of sonic-like fibers in all kind of environments prior to the formation of low- and high-mass stars. This paper introduces the EMERGE project aiming to investigate whether complex fiber arrangements could explain the origin of high-mass stars and clusters. We analyzed the EMERGE Early ALMA Survey including 7 star-forming regions in Orion (OMC-1/2/3/4 South, L1641N, NGC2023, and Flame Nebula) homogeneously surveyed in both molecular lines (N$_2$H$^+$ J=1-0, HNC J=1-0, plus HC3N J=10-9) and 3mm-continuum using a combination of interferometric ALMA mosaics and IRAM-30m single-dish (SD) maps. Based on our low-resolution (SD) observations, we describe the global properties of our sample covering a wide range of physical conditions including low-, intermediate, and high-mass star-forming regions in different evolutionary stages. Their comparison with ancillary YSO catalogs denotes N$_2$H$^+$ as the best proxy for the dense, star-forming gas in our targets showing a constant star formation efficiency and a fast time evolution of <1 Myr. While apparently clumpy and filamentary in our SD data, all targets show a much more complex fibrous substructure at the enhanced resolution of our ALMA+IRAM-30m maps. A large number of filamentary features at sub-parsec scales are clearly recognized in the high-density gas traced by N$_2$H$^+$ directly connected to the formation of individual protostars. This complex gas organization appears to extend further into the more diffuse gas traced by HNC. This paper presents the EMERGE Early ALMA survey including a first data release of continuum maps and spectral products for this project to be analysed in future papers of this series. A first look at these results illustrates the need of advanced data combination techniques to investigate the intrinsic multi-scale, gas structure of the ISM., Comment: 37 pages, 28 fgures, Accepted by A&A

We observed the X-ray binaries CirX-1, ScoX-1, GRS 1915+105, GX13+1, and CygX-1 with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). Unresolved continuum emission is found at the positions of all the sources at a frequency of 92 GHz, with flux densities ranging between 0.8 and 10 mJy/beam. In all cases the emission can be associated with jets that have been extensively observed at lower frequencies. We searched for line emission from H$\alpha$ recombination, SiO,H2O, and CH3OH at the positions of all the sources and, for CirX-1 and CygX-1, also at regions where shocks associated with an interaction between the jet and the interstellar medium had previously been observed. The search did not yield any significant detection, resulting in 3$\sigma$ upper limits between 0.65 and 3.7 K km s$^{-1}$ for the existence of line emission in these regions. In contrast, we detected spatially unresolved SiO emission in the field of view of GX13+1, and we tentatively associate this emission with a SiO maser in a potential young stellar object or evolved star. We also found spatially extended line emission at two additional sites in the field of view of GX13+1 that we tentatively associate with emission from SO and CH3OH; we speculate that it may be associated with a star-forming region, but again we cannot rule out alternative origins such as emission from evolved stars., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A

CASA, the Common Astronomy Software Applications package, is the primary data processing software for the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and NSF's Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA), and is frequently used also for other radio telescopes. The CASA software can process data from both single-dish and aperture-synthesis telescopes, and one of its core functionalities is to support the data reduction and imaging pipelines for ALMA, VLA and the VLA Sky Survey (VLASS). CASA has recently undergone several exciting new developments, including an increased flexibility in Python (CASA 6), support of Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), performance gains through parallel imaging, data visualization with the new Cube Analysis Rendering Tool for Astronomy (CARTA), enhanced reliability and testing, and modernized documentation. These proceedings of the 2019 Astronomical Data Analysis Software & Systems (ADASS) conference give an update of the CASA project, and detail how these new developments will enhance user experience of CASA., Comment: 4 pages, to appear in proceedings of ADASS XXIX, ASP Conf. Series

Deriving physical parameters from gamma-ray burst afterglow observations remains a challenge, even now, 20 years after the discovery of afterglows. The main reason for the lack of progress is that the peak of the synchrotron emission is in the sub-mm range, thus requiring radio observations in conjunction with X-ray/optical/near-infrared data in order to measure the corresponding spectral slopes and consequently remove the ambiguity wrt. slow vs. fast cooling and the ordering of the characteristic frequencies. We observed GRB 151027B, the 1000th Swift-detected GRB, with GROND in the optical-NIR, ALMA in the sub-millimeter, ATCA in the radio band, and combine this with public Swift-XRT X-ray data. While some observations at crucial times only return upper limits or surprising features, the fireball model is narrowly constrained by our data set, and allows us to draw a consistent picture with a fully-determined parameter set. Surprisingly, we find rapid, large-amplitude flux density variations in the radio band which are extreme not only for GRBs, but generally for any radio source. We interpret these as scintillation effects, though the extreme nature requires either the scattering screen to be at much smaller distance than usually assumed, multiple screens, or a combination of the two., Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publ. in A&A

We report on simultaneous broadband observations of the TeV-emitting blazar Markarian 501 between 1 April and 10 August 2013, including the first detailed characterization of the synchrotron peak with Swift and NuSTAR. During the campaign, the nearby BL Lac object was observed in both a quiescent and an elevated state. The broadband campaign includes observations with NuSTAR, MAGIC, VERITAS, the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT), Swift X-ray Telescope and UV Optical Telescope, various ground-based optical instruments, including the GASP-WEBT program, as well as radio observations by OVRO, Mets\"ahovi and the F-Gamma consortium. Some of the MAGIC observations were affected by a sand layer from the Saharan desert, and had to be corrected using event-by-event corrections derived with a LIDAR (LIght Detection And Ranging) facility. This is the first time that LIDAR information is used to produce a physics result with Cherenkov Telescope data taken during adverse atmospheric conditions, and hence sets a precedent for the current and future ground-based gamma-ray instruments. The NuSTAR instrument provides unprecedented sensitivity in hard X-rays, showing the source to display a spectral energy distribution between 3 and 79 keV consistent with a log-parabolic spectrum and hard X-ray variability on hour timescales. None (of the four extended NuSTAR observations) shows evidence of the onset of inverse-Compton emission at hard X-ray energies. We apply a single-zone equilibrium synchrotron self-Compton model to five simultaneous broadband spectral energy distributions. We find that the synchrotron self-Compton model can reproduce the observed broadband states through a decrease in the magnetic field strength coinciding with an increase in the luminosity and hardness of the relativistic leptons responsible for the high-energy emission., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ

A major goal of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is to make accurate images with resolutions of tens of milliarcseconds, which at submillimeter (submm) wavelengths requires baselines up to ~15 km. To develop and test this capability, a Long Baseline Campaign (LBC) was carried out from September to late November 2014, culminating in end-to-end observations, calibrations, and imaging of selected Science Verification (SV) targets. This paper presents an overview of the campaign and its main results, including an investigation of the short-term coherence properties and systematic phase errors over the long baselines at the ALMA site, a summary of the SV targets and observations, and recommendations for science observing strategies at long baselines. Deep ALMA images of the quasar 3C138 at 97 and 241 GHz are also compared to VLA 43 GHz results, demonstrating an agreement at a level of a few percent. As a result of the extensive program of LBC testing, the highly successful SV imaging at long baselines achieved angular resolutions as fine as 19 mas at ~350 GHz. Observing with ALMA on baselines of up to 15 km is now possible, and opens up new parameter space for submm astronomy., Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables; accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letters; this version with small changes to affiliations

The variability of the blazar Markarian 421 in TeV gamma rays over a 14-year time period has been explored with the Whipple 10 m telescope. It is shown that the dynamic range of its flux variations is large and similar to that in X-rays. A correlation between the X-ray and TeV energy bands is observed during some bright flares and when the complete data sets are binned on long timescales. The main database consists of 878.4 hours of observation with the Whipple telescope, spread over 783 nights. The peak energy response of the telescope was 400 GeV with 20% uncertainty. This is the largest database of any TeV-emitting active galactic nucleus (AGN) and hence was used to explore the variability profile of Markarian 421. The time-averaged flux from Markarian 421 over this period was 0.446$\pm$0.008 Crab flux units. The flux exceeded 10 Crab flux units on three separate occasions. For the 2000-2001 season the average flux reached 1.86 Crab units, while in the 1996-1997 season the average flux was only 0.23 Crab units., Comment: 29 pages, 15 figures. Accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physics

Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope (LCOGT) is a young organization dedicated to time-domain observations at optical and (potentially) near-IR wavelengths. To this end, LCOGT is constructing a world-wide network of telescopes, including the two 2m Faulkes telescopes, as many as 17 x 1m telescopes, and as many as 23 x 40cm telescopes. These telescopes initially will be outfitted for imaging and (excepting the 40cm telescopes) spectroscopy at wavelengths between the atmospheric UV cutoff and the roughly 1-micron limit of silicon detectors. Since the first of LCOGT's 1m telescopes are now being deployed, we lay out here LCOGT's scientific goals and the requirements that these goals place on network architecture and performance, we summarize the network's present and projected level of development, and we describe our expected schedule for completing it. In the bulk of the paper, we describe in detail the technical approaches that we have adopted to attain the desired performance. In particular, we discuss our choices for the number and location of network sites, for the number and sizes of telescopes, for the specifications of the first generation of instruments, for the software that will schedule and control the network's telescopes and reduce and archive its data, and for the structure of the scientific and educational programs for which the network will provide observations., Comment: 59 pages, 9 figures, 4 tables. AAS Latex v5.2. Accepted for publication in Pub. Astr. Soc. Pacific

The high-frequency-peaked BL Lacertae object RGB J0710+591 was observed in the very high-energy (VHE; E > 100 GeV) wave band by the VERITAS array of atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes. The observations, taken between 2008 December and 2009 March and totaling 22.1 hr, yield the discovery of VHE gamma rays from the source. RGB J0710+591 is detected at a statistical significance of 5.5 standard deviations (5.5{\sigma}) above the background, corresponding to an integral flux of (3.9 +/- 0.8) x 10-12 cm-2 s-1 (3% of the Crab Nebula's flux) above 300 GeV. The observed spectrum can be fit by a power law from 0.31 to 4.6 TeV with a photon spectral index of 2.69 +/- 0.26stat +/- 0.20sys. These data are complemented by contemporaneous multiwavelength data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope, the Swift X-ray Telescope, the Swift Ultra-Violet and Optical Telescope, and the Michigan-Dartmouth-MIT observatory. Modeling the broadband spectral energy distribution (SED) with an equilibrium synchrotron self-Compton model yields a good statistical fit to the data. The addition of an external-Compton component to the model does not improve the fit nor brings the system closer to equipartition. The combined Fermi and VERITAS data constrain the properties of the high-energy emission component of the source over 4 orders of magnitude and give measurements of the rising and falling sections of the SED.

We aim to exploit the available INTEGRAL/SPI data to provide time-averaged spectra of the brightest soft gamma-ray sources. Employing a maximum-likelihood fit technique for our SPI data analysis, we take as input to our source model the source catalog derived by Bouchet et al. (2008) from a SPI all-sky study. We use the first four years of public SPI data and extract spectra between 25 keV and 1 MeV for the 20 catalog sources detected by Bouchet et al. at 200 - 600 keV with >= 2.5 sigma. In order to verify our analysis, we also extract spectra for the same sources from the corresponding INTEGRAL/ISGRI data. We fit adequate spectral models to the energy range 25-1000 keV for SPI and 25-600 keV for ISGRI. We use our spectra from the Crab (which is among the 20 sources studied here) and an empty location in a crowded field to derive an estimation of the systematic errors. The agreement between our SPI and ISGRI measurements is good if we normalise them on the Crab spectrum. Our SPI flux measurements also agree well with those by Bouchet et al. (2008). All 20 sources in our sample are detected independently in the bands 25-100 keV and 100-200 keV. At 200-600 keV we detect eight sources, at 600-1000 keV we detect two sources. Our spectra agree well with the results from previous publications where available. For six of the 14 XRBs in our sample we find evidence for a hard powerlaw-component which becomes dominant above the cutoff energy of the thermal Comptonization component. In two of these cases, our study provides the first indication of such emission. For the others, our results confirm previous studies. Our Crab spectrum (from 1.3 Ms exposure), shows a significant flux in all points and is well described by a powerlaw with a break near 100 keV and spectral indices 2.11 and 2.20., Comment: 24 pages, 44 figures, accepted for publication by A&A

HESS J0632+057 is one of only two unidentified very-high-energy gamma-ray sources which appear to be point-like within experimental resolution. It is possibly associated with the massive Be star MWC 148 and has been suggested to resemble known TeV binary systems like LS I +61 303 or LS 5039. HESS J0632+057 was observed by VERITAS for 31 hours in 2006, 2008 and 2009. During these observations, no significant signal in gamma rays with energies above 1 TeV was detected from the direction of HESS J0632+057. A flux upper limit corresponding to 1.1% of the flux of the Crab Nebula has been derived from the VERITAS data. The non-detection by VERITAS excludes with a probability of 99.993% that HESS J0632+057 is a steady gamma-ray emitter. Contemporaneous X-ray observations with Swift XRT reveal a factor of 1.8+-0.4 higher flux in the 1-10 keV range than earlier X-ray observations of HESS J0632+057. The variability in the gamma-ray and X-ray fluxes supports interpretation of the ob ject as a gamma-ray emitting binary., Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal

The intermediate-frequency peaked BL Lacertae (IBL) object 3C 66A is detected during 2007 - 2008 in VHE (very high energy: E > 100 GeV) gamma-rays with the VERITAS stereoscopic array of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes. An excess of 1791 events is detected, corresponding to a significance of 21.2 standard deviations (sigma), in these observations (32.8 hours live time). The observed integral flux above 200 GeV is 6% of the Crab Nebula's flux and shows evidence for variability on the time-scale of days. The measured energy spectrum is characterized by a soft power law with photon index Gamma = 4.1 +- 0.4_stat +- 0.6_sys. The radio galaxy 3C 66B is excluded as a possible source of the VHE emission., Comment: 13 Pages, 4 Figures. Published in ApJL. This new version correctly calculates the intrinsic photon index (see Erratum: ApJL, 721:L203-L204)

The high-frequency-peaked BL-Lacertae object \objectname{1ES 0806+524}, at redshift z=0.138, was observed in the very-high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray regime by VERITAS between November 2006 and April 2008. These data encompass the two-, and three-telescope commissioning phases, as well as observations with the full four-telescope array. \objectname{1ES 0806+524} is detected with a statistical significance of 6.3 standard deviations from 245 excess events. Little or no measurable variability on monthly time scales is found. The photon spectrum for the period November 2007 to April 2008 can be characterized by a power law with photon index $3.6 \pm 1.0_{\mathrm{stat}} \pm 0.3_{\mathrm{sys}}$ between $\sim$300 GeV and $\sim$700 GeV. The integral flux above 300 GeV is $(2.2\pm0.5_{\mathrm{stat}}\pm0.4_{\mathrm{sys}})\times10^{-12}\:\mathrm{cm}^{2}\:\mathrm{s}^{-1}$ which corresponds to 1.8% of the Crab Nebula flux. Non contemporaneous multiwavelength observations are combined with the VHE data to produce a broadband spectral energy distribution that can be reasonably described using a synchrotron-self Compton model., Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, accepted to APJL

We report the detection of very high-energy gamma-ray emission from the intermediate-frequency-peaked BL Lacertae object W Comae (z=0.102) by VERITAS. The source was observed between January and April 2008. A strong outburst of gamma-ray emission was measured in the middle of March, lasting for only four days. The energy spectrum measured during the two highest flare nights is fit by a power-law and is found to be very steep, with a differential photon spectral index of Gamma = 3.81 +- 0.35_stat +- 0.34_syst. The integral photon flux above 200GeV during those two nights corresponds to roughly 9% of the flux from the Crab Nebula. Quasi-simultaneous Swift observations at X-ray energies were triggered by the VERITAS observations. The spectral energy distribution of the flare data can be described by synchrotron-self-Compton (SSC) or external-Compton (EC) leptonic jet models, with the latter offering a more natural set of parameters to fit the data., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, accepted by ApJL

We report the results of a multi-wavelength campaign on the blazar Mrk 421 during outburst. We observed four strong flares at X-ray energies that were not seen at other wavelengths (partially because of missing data). From the fastest rise in the X-rays, an upper limit could be derived on the extension of the emission region. A time lag between high-energy and low-energy X-rays was observed, which allowed an estimation of the magnetic-field strength. The spectral analysis of the X-rays revealed a slight spectral hardening of the low-energy (3 - 43 keV) spectral index. The hardness-ratio analysis of the Swift-XRT (0.2 - 10 keV) data indicated a small correlation with the intensity; i. e., a hard-to-soft evolution was observed. At the energies of IBIS/ISGRI (20 - 150 keV), such correlations are less obvious. A multiwavelength spectrum was composed and the X-ray and bolometric luminosities are calculated., Comment: 15 pages, 18 figures; accepted by Astronomy & Astrophysics

(Abridged) We present a detailed analysis of week-long simultaneous observations of the blazar Mrk421 at 2-60 keV X-rays (RXTE) and TeV gamma-rays (Whipple and HEGRA) in 2001. The unprecedented quality of this dataset enables us to establish firmly the existence of the correlation between the TeV and X-ray luminosities, and to start unveiling some of its more detailed characteristics, in particular its energy dependence, and time variability. The source shows strong, highly correlated variations in X-ray and gamma-ray. No evidence of X-ray/gamma-ray interband lag is found on the full week dataset (<3 ks). However, a detailed analysis of the March 19 flare reveals that data are not consistent with the peak of the outburst in the 2-4 keV X-ray and TeV band being simultaneous. We estimate a 2.1+/-0.7 ks TeV lag. The amplitudes of the X-ray and gamma-ray variations are also highly correlated, and the TeV luminosity increases more than linearly w.r.t. the X-ray one. The strong correlation supports the standard model in which a unique electrons population produces the X-rays by synchrotron radiation and the gamma-ray component by inverse Compton scattering. However, for the individual best observed flares the gamma-ray flux scales approximately quadratically w.r.t. the X-ray flux, posing a serious challenge to emission models for TeV blazars. Rather special conditions and/or fine tuning of the temporal evolution of the physical parameters of the emission region are required in order to reproduce the quadratic correlation., Comment: Correction to authorship. Minor editorial changes to text, figures, references. 22 pages (emulateapj), 12 figures (47 postscript files) Published in ApJ, 2008 April 20 (ADS: 2008ApJ...677..906F)

VERITAS is a new atmospheric Cherenkov imaging telescope array to detect very high energy gamma rays above 100 GeV. The array is located in southern Arizona, USA, at an altitude of 1268m above sea level. The array consists of four 12-m telescopes of Davies-Cotton design and structurally resembling the Whipple 10-m telescope. The four focal plane instruments are equipped with high-resolution (499 pixels) fast photo-multiplier-tube (PMT) cameras covering a 3.5 degree field of view with 0.15 degree pixel separation. Light concentrators reduce the dead-space between PMTs to 25% and shield the PMTs from ambient light. The PMTs are connected to high-speed preamplifiers allowing operation at modest anode current and giving good single photoelectron peaks in situ. Electronics in the focus box provides real-time monitoring of the anode currents for each pixel and ambient environmental conditions. A charge injection subsystem installed in the focus box allows daytime testing of the trigger and data acquisition system by injecting pulses of variable amplitude and length directly into the photomultiplier preamplifiers. A brief description of the full VERITAS focal plane instrument is given in this paper., Comment: 4 pages; contribution to the 30th International Cosmic Ray Conference, Merida, Mexico, July 2007

A ToO observation of the TeV-emitting blazar Mrk 421 with INTEGRAL was triggered in June 2006 by an increase of the RXTE count rate to more than 30 mCrab. The source was then observed with all INTEGRAL instruments with the exception of the spectrometer SPI for a total exposure of 829 ks. During this time several outbursts were observed by IBIS and JEM-X. Multiwavelength observations were immediately triggered and the source was observed at radio, optical and X-ray wavelengths up to TeV energies. The data obtained during these observations are analysed with respect to spectral evolution and correlated variability. Preliminary results of the analysis are presented in this poster., Comment: 2 pages, 3 figures; to appear in the Proc. of the First Int. GLAST Symp. (Stanford, Feb. 5-8, 2007), eds. S.Ritz, P.F.Michelson, and C.Meegan, AIP Conf. Proc

Gamma-ray burst (GRB) observations at very high energies (VHE, E > 100 GeV) can impose tight constraints on some GRB emission models. Many GRB afterglow models predict a VHE component similar to that seen in blazars and plerions, in which the GRB spectral energy distribution has a double-peaked shape extending into the VHE regime. VHE emission coincident with delayed X-ray flare emission has also been predicted. GRB follow-up observations have had high priority in the observing program at the Whipple 10m Gamma-ray Telescope and GRBs will continue to be high priority targets as the next generation observatory, VERITAS, comes on-line. Upper limits on the VHE emission, at late times (>~4 hours), from seven GRBs observed with the Whipple Telescope are reported here., Comment: Accepted for publication in the January 20, 2007 volume of the Astrophysical Journal, 655, 396

A decade after the discovery of TeV gamma-rays from the blazar Mrk 421 (Punch et al. 1992), the list of TeV blazars has increased to five BL Lac objects: Mrk 421 (Punch et al. 1992; Petry et al. 1996; Piron et al. 2001), Mrk 501 (Quinn et al. 1996; Aharonian et al. 1999; Djannati-Atai et al. 1999), 1ES2344+514 (Catanese et al. 1998), H1426+428 (Horan et al. 2000, 2002; Aharonian et al. 2002; Djannati-Atai et al. 2002) and 1ES1959+650 (Nishiyama et al. 1999; Konopelko et al. 2002; Holder et al. 2002). In this paper we report results from recent observations of Mrk 421, H1426+428 and 1ES1959+650 using the Whipple Observatory 10 m telescope., Comment: The Universe Viewed in Gamma-Rays proceedings

The BL Lac object H1426+428 was recently detected as a high energy gamma-ray source by the VERITAS collaboration (Horan et al. 2002). We have reanalyzed the 2001 portion of the data used in the detection in order to examine the spectrum of H1426+428 above 250 GeV. We find that the time-averaged spectrum agrees with a power law of the shape dF/dE = 10^(-7.31 +- 0.15(stat) +- 0.16(syst)) x E^(-3.50 +- 0.35(stat) +- 0.05(syst)) m^(-2)s^(-1)TeV^(-1) The statistical evidence from our data for emission above 2.5 TeV is 2.6 sigma. With 95% c.l., the integral flux of H1426+428 above 2.5 TeV is larger than 3% of the corresponding flux from the Crab Nebula. The spectrum is consistent with the (non-contemporaneous) measurement by Aharonian et al. (2002) both in shape and in normalization. Below 800 GeV, the data clearly favours a spectrum steeper than that of any other TeV Blazar observed so far indicating a difference in the processes involved either at the source or in the intervening space., Comment: LaTeX, 8 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

The detection of spectral variability of the gamma-ray blazar Mrk 421 at TeV energies is reported. Observations with the Whipple Observatory 10m gamma-ray telescope taken in 2000/2001 revealed exceptionally strong and long-lasting flaring activity. Flaring levels of 0.4 to 13 times that of the Crab Nebula flux provided sufficient statistics for a detailed study of the energy spectrum between 380 GeV and 8.2 TeV as a function of flux level. These spectra are well described by a power law with an exponential cutoff. There is no evidence for variation in the cutoff energy with flux, and all spectra are consistent with an average value for the cutoff energy of 4.3 TeV. The spectral index varies between 1.89 in a high flux state and 2.72 in a low state. The correlation between spectral index and flux is tight when averaging over the total 2000/2001 data set. Spectral measurements of Mrk~421 from previous years (1995/96 and 1999) by the Whipple collaboration are consistent with this flux-spectral index correlation, which suggest that this may be a constant or a long-term property of the source. If a similar flux-spectral index correlation were found for other gamma-ray blazars, this universal property could help disentangle the intrinsic emission mechanism from external absorption effects., Comment: 24 pages, 3 figures, submitted May 20 2002, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letters

The GRANITE III camera of the Whipple Cherenkov Telescope at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory on Mount Hopkins, Arizona (2300 m a.s.l.) has the highest angular resolution of all cameras used on this telescope so far. The central region of the camera has 379 pixels with an individual angular diameter of 0.12 degrees. This makes the instrument especially suitable for observations of gamma-induced air-showers at large zenith angles since the increase in average distance to the shower maximum leads to smaller shower images in the focal plane of the telescope. We examine the performance of the telescope for observations of gamma-induced air-showers at zenith angles up to 63 degrees based on observations of Mkn 421 and using Monte Carlo Simulations. An improvement to the standard data analysis is suggested., Comment: 4 pages, 8 figures, corrected version of a contribution to the 27th ICRC

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

We present a compilation of data on the 22 tentatively identified gamma-ray sources from the Third EGRET Catalog which may be detected by the next-generation imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes., Comment: LaTeX, 5 pages, to be published in the proceedings of the Gamma 2001 Symposium (Baltimore, April 2001)

During the observation period 1997, the nearby Blazar Mkn 501 showed extremely strong emission and high variability. We examine multiwavelength aspects of this event using radio, optical, soft and hard X-ray and TeV data. We concentrate on the medium-timescale variability of the broadband spectra, averaged over weekly intervals. We confirm the previously found correlation between soft and hard X-ray emission and the emission at TeV energies, while the source shows only minor variability at radio and optical wavelengths. The non-linear correlation between hard X-ray and TeV fluxes is consistent with a simple analytic estimate based on an SSC model in which Klein-Nishina effects are important for the highest-energy electrons in the jet, and flux variations are caused by variations of the electron density and/or the spectral index of the electron injection spectrum. The time-averaged spectra are fitted with a Synchrotron Self-Compton (SSC) dominated leptonic jet model, using the full Klein-Nishina cross section and following the self-consistent evolution of relativistic particles along the jet, accounting for gamma-gamma absorption and pair production within the source as well as due to the intergalactic infrared background radiation. The contribution from external inverse-Compton scattering is tightly constrained by the low maximum EGRET flux and found to be negligible at TeV energies. We find that high levels of the X-ray and TeV fluxes can be explained by a hardening of the energy spectra of electrons injected at the base of the jet, in remarkable contrast to the trend found for gamma-ray flares of the flat-spectrum radio quasar PKS 0528+134., Comment: accepted for publication in ApJ, 31 pages, 11 figures

The Major Atmospheric Gamma-ray Imaging Cherenkov (MAGIC) Telescope collaboration is constructing a large Cherenkov telescope (17 m diameter) for the exploration of the gamma-ray energy regime above 10 GeV with high sensitivity. One of the highlights in the science program of this future observatory are the plans for fast follow-up observations of of GRBs. By ``fast'' we mean delays of less than 30 s between notification and the beginning of observations. The expected gamma counting rates are of the order of 100 Hz for a EGRET counting rate of 0.1 Hz above 100 MeV and a spectral index of 2.0 (this would correspond to a fluence of 10^{-5} erg cm^{-2} for 60 s burst duration). The good photon statistics will permit determination of spectra, search for cutoffs and measurement of light-curves with a time resolution of the order of 1 s., Comment: 2 pages, accepted for publication in the special issue of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Supplement Series, containing the proceedings of the workshop "Gamma Ray Bursts in the Afterglow Era"

TeV Gamma-ray signals from the Crab Nebula and Mkn 501 were detected with the HEGRA CT1 imaging Cerenkov telescope during periods when the moon was shining and during twilight. This was accomplished by lowering the high voltage supply of the photomutipliers in fixed steps up to 13%. No other adjustments were made and no filters were used. Laser runs could not establish any non-linearity in the gain of the individual pixels, and the trigger rate was uniform over the whole camera. The energy threshol was increased by up to a factor of two, depending on the amount of HV reduction. In a series of observations lasting 11.7 hours, a signal with a 3.4 sigma significance was detected from the Crab. During the 1997 multiple flare episode of Mkn 501 a 26 sigma combined excess has been recorded during 134 hours of observations under various moonshine/twilight conditions. The results show that this technique can easily be adapted to increase the exposure of a source, which is important for sources showing rapid time variability such as AGNs or GRBs. Observations can be made up to ~20 deg. angular separation from the moon and until the moon is 85% illuminated (ten to eleven days before and after new moon), as well as during 20 to 40 minutes during twilight, before the commencement of astronomical darkness., Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Astroparticle Physics

A search for gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) above 20 TeV within the field of view (1 sr) of the HEGRA AIROBICC Cherenkov array (29N, 18W, 2200 m a.s.l.) has been performed using data taken between March 1992 and March 1993. The search is based on an all-sky survey using four time scales, 10 seconds, 1 minute, 4 minutes and 1 hour. No evidence for TeV-emission has been found for the data sample. Flux upper limits are given. A special analysis has been performed for GRBs detected by BATSE and WATCH. Two partially and two fully contained GRBs in our field of view (FOV) were studied. For GRB 920925c which was fully contained in our FOV, the most significant excess has a probability of 7.7 10**-8 (corresponding to 5.4 sigmas) of being caused by a background fluctuation. Correcting this probability with the appropriate trial factor, yields a 99.7% confidence level for this excess to be related to the GRB (corresponding to 2.7 sigmas). This result is discussed within the framework of the WATCH detection., Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in A&A

Since February 1997 the BL Lac object Mkn 501 is in a ``high state'' of gamma-ray emission. The HEGRA collaboration has studied Mkn 501 with their air Cherenkov telescopes on La Palma. Here we report on observations with the 5 m^2 telescope (threshold approx. 1.5 TeV) operated in a stand alone mode. We observed a rapidly varying flux between 0.5 to 6 times of that from the Crab Nebula. On average an integral flux above 1.5 TeV of (2 + 1.3 - 0.5) x 10^-11 cm^-2 s^-1 has been determined. The spectrum extends at least up to 10 TeV with an integral power law coefficient of 1.8 +- 0.2 and seems to be steeper than in 1996., Comment: 5 pages, to be published in the Proceedings of the 4th Compton Symposium, Williamsburg, Virginia, April 1997

The HEGRA 5 m^2 air Cherenkov telescope (CT1) was used to search for gamma-ray emission above 1.5 TeV from a series of low redshift AGN (Mkn 421, Mkn 501, MS 0116+319, PKS 2209+236, NGC 315 and W Comae). Here we present results from a total of 383 hours of ON-source observations at zenith angles up to 35$^\circ$ made between February 1996 and April 1997 showing positive detections of Mkn 421 and Mkn 501 and upper limits on the other objects' emission. More recent results from observations of Mkn 421 und Mkn 501 will be added at the conference., Comment: 4 pages, to be published in the Proceedings of the 25th International Cosmic Ray Conference, Durban, August 1997

We report preliminary results of a multi-frequency campaign on the TeV candidate blazar W Comae (z=0.102). Flux limits by Whipple and HEGRA show that the TeV flux must be considerably below an E^-2 extrapolation of the EGRET flux. In the framework of proton-initiated cascade models, this implies a moderate amount of gamma-ray attenuation due to pair production in collisions with low-energy photons of the extragalactic infrared background. In a simple SSC model, the gamma-ray spectrum cuts off intrinsically just below TeV without requiring external absorption., Comment: 6 pages, Latex using crckapb.sty, to appear in the proceedings of the conference on Blazars, Black Holes, and Jets, Girona, Spain, 9-12 September 1996, eds. M. Kidger and J.A. de Diego, Astrophysics and Space Science Series

A detection of TeV $\gamma$-rays from Mkn 501 is reported, based on observations made between March and August 1996 with the first HEGRA Cherenkov telescope (CT1). From the image analysis, 351 excess candidate $\gamma$-ray events are obtained from the 147 h dataset. The statistical significance of the excess is 5.2 $\sigma$. The average excess rate is $2.4 \pm 0.5$ h$^{-1}$ above the $\approx$ 1.5 TeV threshold of CT1. Under the assumption that the spectrum of Mkn 501 follows a power law we find a differential spectral index of 2.6$\pm0.5$ and obtain a time-averaged integral flux above 1.5 TeV of $2.3 (\pm0.4)_{Stat} (+1.5-0.6)_{Syst} \times 10^{-12}$ cm$^{-2}$s$^{-1}$. Comparison with our near contemporary observations of the Crab Nebula, used as a standard candle to test CT1 after upgrading to a 127 pixel camera, indicates that Mkn 501 has a spectrum similar to that of the Crab Nebula above 1.5 TeV. The integral flux above 1.5 TeV from Mkn 501 is found to have been between 2.2 and 3.6 times smaller than that from the Crab Nebula. HEGRA is the second experiment to have detected Mkn 501 in the TeV range., Comment: 4 pages LaTeX, 3 postscript figures

A detection of Gamma-rays from Mkn 421 at energies above 1 TeV is reported, based on observations made in December 1994 - May 1995 with the first two HEGRA Cherenkov telescopes. >From the image analysis, 111 excess gamma candidates are obtained from the 26 h Telescope #1 (CT1) dataset (significance 4.0 sigma) and 218 from the 41 h Telescope #2 (CT2) dataset (significance 4.2 sigma) at zenith angles theta < 25 degrees. The combined significance is approx. 5.8 sigma. This is the second detection of Mkn 421 at TeV energies. The average excess rate is 4.3 +- 1.0 h^-1 for CT1 and 5.4 +- 1.3 h^-1 for CT2. Comparison with our contemporary observations of the Crab Nebula indicates that Mkn 421 has a steeper spectrum than the Crab Nebula above 1 TeV. Under the assumption that the spectrum of Mkn 421 follows a power law, we obtain a differential spectral index of 3.6 +- 1.0 and an integral flux above 1 TeV of 8 (+-2)_(Stat) (+6-3)_(Syst) x 10^-12 cm^-2 s^-1 from a comparison with Monte Carlo data. This flux is smaller than the Crab Nebula flux by a factor of 2.0 +- 0.8., Comment: 4 pages, single ps-file, accepted as Letter to A&A on 11 June 96