THE FIRM REDSHIFT LOWER LIMIT OF THE MOST DISTANT TeV-DETECTED BLAZAR PKS 1424+240

被引:64
作者
Furniss, A. [1 ,2 ]
Williams, D. A. [1 ,2 ]
Danforth, C. [3 ]
Fumagalli, M. [4 ,5 ]
Prochaska, J. X. [6 ]
Primack, J. [1 ,2 ]
Urry, C. M. [7 ]
Stocke, J. [3 ]
Filippenko, A. V. [8 ]
Neely, W. [9 ]
机构
[1] Univ Calif Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz Inst Particle Phys, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 USA
[2] Univ Calif Santa Cruz, Dept Phys, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 USA
[3] Univ Colorado, Dept Astrophys & Planetary Sci, CASA, Boulder, CO 80309 USA
[4] Carnegie Observ, Pasadena, CA 91101 USA
[5] Princeton Univ, Dept Astrophys, Princeton, NJ 08544 USA
[6] Univ Calif Santa Cruz, UCO Lick Observ, Dept Astron & Astrophys, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 USA
[7] Yale Univ, Dept Astron, New Haven, CT 06520 USA
[8] Univ Calif Berkeley, Dept Astron, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA
[9] NF Observ, Silver City, NM 88041 USA
基金
美国国家科学基金会;
关键词
BL Lacertae objects: individual (PKS 1424+240 (PG 1424+240)); diffuse radiation; galaxies: active; intergalactic medium; ultraviolet: general; EXTRAGALACTIC BACKGROUND LIGHT; ENERGY GAMMA-RAYS; DISCOVERY; ABSORPTION; TELESCOPE; SPECTROSCOPY; EMISSION; SCENARIO; SPECTRA; FLARE;
D O I
10.1088/2041-8205/768/2/L31
中图分类号
P1 [天文学];
学科分类号
0704 ;
摘要
We present the redshift lower limit of z >= 0.6035 for the very high energy (VHE; E >= 100 GeV) emitting blazar PKS 1424+240 (PG 1424+240). This limit is inferred from Ly beta and Ly gamma absorption observed in the far-ultraviolet spectra from the Hubble Space Telescope/Cosmic Origins Spectrograph. No VHE-detected blazar has shown solid spectroscopic evidence of being more distant. At this distance, VHE observations by VERITAS are shown to sample historically large gamma-ray opacity values at 500 GeV, extending beyond tau = 4 for low-level models of the extragalactic background light (EBL) and beyond tau = 5 for high levels. The majority of the z = 0.6035 absorption-corrected VHE spectrum appears to exhibit a lower flux than an extrapolation of the contemporaneous Large Area Telescope power-law fit beyond 100 GeV. However, the highest energy VERITAS point is the only point showing agreement with this extrapolation, possibly implying the overestimation of the gamma-ray opacity or the onset of an unexpected VHE spectral feature. A curved log parabola is favored when fitting the full range of gamma-ray data (0.5-500 GeV). While fitting the absorption-corrected VHE data alone results in a harder differential power law than that from the full range, the indices derived using three EBL models are consistent with the physically motivated limit set by Fermi acceleration processes.
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页数:6
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