München 2009 – scientific programme
Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Downloads | Help
T: Fachverband Teilchenphysik
T 87: Gamma-Astronomie 6
T 87.5: Talk
Friday, March 13, 2009, 15:00–15:15, M105
The June 2008 flare of Markarian 421 from optical to TeV energies, as observed by AGILE, RXTE, Swift, GASP-WEBT, MAGIC and VERITAS — •Konstancja Satalecka1, Ching-Cheng Hsu2, Jeffrey Grube3, 4, Robert Wagner2, Elisa Bernardini1, and Pratik Majumdar1 — 1DESY, D-15738 Zeuthen, Germany — 2Max-Planck-Institut für Physik, D-80805 München, Germany — 3School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK — 4School of Physics, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
We present optical, X-ray, high energy ( 30 GeV) and very high energy ( 100 GeV; VHE) observations of the high-frequency peaked blazar Mrk 421 taken between 2008 May 24 and June 23. A flaring state in high energy γ-ray was detected by AGILE. In hard X-rays (20-60 keV) SuperAGILE resolved a 5-day flare (June 9-15). SuperAGILE, RXTE/ASM and Swift/BAT data reveal a correlated flaring structure between soft and hard X-rays. Simultaneous optical data from GASP-WEBT show hints of the same flaring behavior. A Swift/XRT observation near the flaring maximum reveal the highest 2-10 keV flux ever observed from Mrk 421. VHE observations with MAGIC and VERITAS (June 6-8) show the flux peaking in a bright state, well correlated with the X-rays. This extraordinary set of simultaneous data, covering a twelve-decade spectral range, allowed for a deep analysis of the spectral energy distribution and correlated light curves. The γ-ray flare can be interpreted within the framework of the synchrotron self-Compton model in terms of a rapid acceleration of leptons in the jet.