The MAGIC collaboration reports the detection of the blazar S5 0716+714 z=0.31+-0.08 in very high energy gamma-rays. The observations were performed in November 2007 and in April 2008, and were triggered by the KVA telescope due to the high optical state of the object. An overall significance of the signal accounts to S =5.8sigma for 13.1 hours of data. Most of the signal S = 6.9sigma comes from the April 2008 data sample during a higher optical state of the object suggesting a possible correlation between the VHE gamma-ray and optical emissions. The differential energy spectrum of the 2008 data sample follows a power law with a photon index of Gamma = 3.45+-0.54_(stat)+-0.2_(syst), and the integral flux above 400GeV is at the level of 7.5+-2.2_(stat)+-2.3_(syst)*10^-12 cm^-2 s^-1 corresponding to a 9% Crab Nebula flux. Modeling of the broad band spectral energy distribution indicates that a structured jet model appears to be more promising in describing the available data than a simple one zone synchrotron self-Compton model.
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…
We consider implications of high-energy neutrino emission from blazar flares, including the recent event IceCube-170922A and the 2014-2015 neutrino flare that could originate from TXS 0506+056. First, we discuss their contribution to the diffuse neutrino intensity taking into account various observational constraints. Blazars are likely to be subdominant in the diffuse neutrino intensity at sub-PeV energies, and we show that blazar flares like those of TXS 0506+056 could make <1-10 percent of the total neutrino intensity. We also argue that the neutrino output of blazars can be dominated by th…