MAGIC has been performing optically triggered Target of Opportunity observations of flaring blazars since the beginning of its scientific operations. The alerts of flaring blazars originate from Tuorla blazar monitoring program, which started the optical monitoring of the candidate TeV blazars in 2002 and has now collected up to six years of data on 30 blazars. These Target of Opportunity observations have resulted in the discovery of three new VHE gamma-ray emitting blazars (Mrk180, 1ES1011+496 and S50716+714) and in addition the discoveries of BLLac and 3C279 were made during a high optical state. In this talk we present a detailed analysis of the optical light curves which are then compared to MAGIC observations of the same sources. We aim to answer the question "Is there a connection between optical and VHE gamma-ray high states in blazars or have we just been lucky?"
Highlights from the Whipple 10-m Blazar Monitoring Program
已知大约有25颗耀变体发射VHE(E>100 GeV)伽马射线。了解这些强大的物体需要长期、密集的监测观测,因为它们在整个电磁波谱中表现出强烈、快速和不规则的变化。惠普尔10米伽马射线望远镜是世界上第四灵敏的甚高频望远镜,主要用于在甚高频波段进行这种监测。10米的监测计划特别关注Mrk 421、Mrk 501、H 1426+428、1 ES 1959+650和1 ES 2344+514,每个无月的夜晚都进行观测,每个源都是可见的。一旦检测到耀斑,就会向VERITAS和天文学界发出警报,以触发ToO观测,就像2008年Mrk 421有史以来最明亮的VHE耀斑之一一样。除了耀斑警报之外,10-m计划还用于创建长期光变曲线,具有前所未有的VHE采样,可以与其他多频率观测相结合,以更好地了解耀变体。将介绍最近惠普尔10米blazar计划的亮点。
The first measurements from the CIBER experiment of extragalactic background light (EBL) in near-infrared (NIR) band exhibit a higher intensity than those inferred through $γ$-ray observations. Recent theoretical-EBL intensities are typically consistent with the very high energy (VHE) $γ$-ray observations. Yet, it is possible that the excess NIR radiation is a new component of EBL and not in tension with the TeV spectra of distant blazars, since the hypothetical axion-like particle (ALP) may lead to a reduced opacity of the Universe for VHE $γ$-rays. In order to probe whether the excess compon…
We have carried out Chandra, HST, and VLA observations of four MOJAVE blazars that have been previously classified as 'hybrid' (FR I/II) blazars in terms of radio morphology but not total radio power. The motivation of this study is to determine the X-ray emission mechanism in jets, these being different in FR I and FR II jets. We detected X-ray jet emission with sufficient SNR in two blazars viz. PKS 0215+015 and TXS 0730+504. We carried out spectral energy distribution (SED) modeling of the broad-band emission from the jet regions in these sources and found that a single synchrotron emission…
Blazars are among the most powerful accelerators and are expected to produce a bright TeV $γ$-ray flux. However, TeV $γ$-rays are attenuated by interactions with intergalactic radiation before reaching Earth. These interactions produce cascades that transfer TeV power into the GeV band, powering both extended halos around bright sources and a large contribution to the isotropic $γ$-ray background (IGRB). Using conservative blazar models and recent IGRB measurements, we rule out scenarios where blazars effectively transfer their multi-TeV power into GeV $γ$-rays. Three possible solutions includ…