Abstract : The flat-spectrum radio quasar 3C454.3 underwent an extraordinary 5 day γ -ray outburst in 2010 November when the daily flux measured with the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) at photon energies E > 100 MeV reached (66 ± 2) × 10−6 photons cm−2 s−1. This is a factor of three higher than its previous maximum flux recorded in 2009 December and 5 times brighter than the Vela pulsar, which is normally the brightest source in the γ -ray sky. The 3 hr peak flux was (85 ± 5)×10−6 photons cm−2 s−1, corresponding to an apparent isotropic luminosity of (2.1 ± 0.2)×1050 erg s−1, the highest ever recorded for a blazar. In this Letter, we investigate the features of this exceptional event in the γ -ray band of the Fermi-LAT. In contrast to previous flares of the same source observed with the Fermi-LAT, clear spectral changes are observed during the flare.
http://hal.in2p3.fr/in2p3-00657732
Contributeur : Nathalie Martin
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Soumis le : lundi 9 janvier 2012 - 10:34:22
Dernière modification le : jeudi 10 mai 2018 - 02:00:34
A. A. Abdo, Markus Ackermann, Marco Ajello, A. Allafort, Luca Baldini, et al.. Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope Observations of the Gamma-ray Outburst from 3C454.3 in November 2010. The Astrophysical journal letters, Bristol : IOP Publishing, 2011, 733, pp.L26. 〈10.1088/2041-8205/733/2/L26〉. 〈in2p3-00657732〉
