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arXiv 0904.4280astro-ph.HEastro-ph.CO
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早期费米Gamma-ray空间望远镜对类星体3C 454.3的观测

Early Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope Observations of the Quasar 3C 454.3

LAT Collaboration, A. A. Abdo

摘要:

这是费米伽马射线太空望远镜对类星体3C 454.3观测的第一份报告,该类星体自2000年以来一直在经历明显的长期爆发。来自大天区望远镜(LAT)的数据涵盖了2008年7月7日至10月6日,显示出强烈的、高度可变的伽马射线辐射,平均通量为~3 x 10^{-6}光子cm^{-2} s^{-1},能量超过100 MeV。伽马射线通量是可变的,具有强烈的,独特的,呈螺旋形的耀斑,其通量在大约三天的时间尺度上增加了几倍。这种变化表明一个紧凑的发射区域,并且源光学薄到对产生的要求意味着多普勒因子δ> 8的相对论性波束,与从VLBI观测超光速膨胀(δ ~ 25)推断的值一致。观测到的伽马射线谱与简单的幂律不一致,而是在~2 GeV以上强烈变陡,并且可以很好地用一个破碎的幂律来描述,其光子指数分别为~2.3和~3.5。这是第一次直接观测到100 MeV以上的高光度耀变体的光谱断裂,这可能是辐射粒子能量分布内在断裂的直接证据。另外,2 GeV以上的光谱软化可能是由于主活动星系核的软X射线光子场通过光子-光子对产生的伽马射线吸收,但这样的解释需要耗散区非常靠近黑洞(小于100个引力半径),这与源的X射线光谱不一致。

英文摘要:

This is the first report of Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope observations of the quasar 3C 454.3, which has been undergoing pronounced long-term outbursts since 2000. The data from the Large Area Telescope (LAT), covering 2008 July 7 - October 6, indicate strong, highly variable gamma-ray emission with an average flux of ~3 x 10^{-6} photons cm^{-2} s^{-1}, for energies above 100 MeV. The gamma-ray flux is variable, with strong, distinct, symmetrically-shaped flares for which the flux increases by a factor of several on a time scale of about three days. This variability indicates a compact emission region, and the requirement that the source is optically thin to pair-production implies relativistic beaming with Doppler factor delta > 8, consistent with the values inferred from VLBI observations of superluminal expansion (delta ~ 25). The observed gamma-ray spectrum is not consistent with a simple power-law, but instead steepens strongly above ~2 GeV, and is well described by a broken power-law with photon indices of ~2.3 and ~3.5 below and above the break, respectively. This is the first direct observation of a break in the spectrum of a high luminosity blazar above 100 MeV, and it is likely direct evidence for an intrinsic break in the energy distribution of the radiating particles. Alternatively, the spectral softening above 2 GeV could be due to gamma-ray absorption via photon-photon pair production on the soft X-ray photon field of the host AGN, but such an interpretation would require the dissipation region to be located very close (less than 100 gravitational radii) to the black hole, which would be inconsistent with the X-ray spectrum of the source.

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