A Survey of Active Galaxies at TeV Photon Energies with the HAWC Gamma-Ray Observatory

Albert A, Alvarez C, Camacho JRA, Arteaga-Velazquez JC, Arunbabu KP, Rojas DA, Solares HAA, Baghmanyan V, Belmont-Moreno E, Benzvi SY, Brisbois C, Caballero-Mora KS, Capistran T, Carraminana A, Casanova S, Cotti U, Cotzomi J, De Leon SC, Fuente EDL, Dingus BL, Duvernois MA, Durocher M, Diaz-Velez JC, Engel K, Espinoza C, Fan KL, Alonso MF, Fleischhack H, Fraija N, Galvan-Gamez A, Garcia D, Garcia-Gonzalez JA, Garfias F, Gonzalez MM, Goodman JA, Harding JP, Hernandez S, Hona B, Huang D, Hueyotl-Zahuantitla F, Huntemeyer P, Iriarte A, Jardin-Blicq A, Joshi V, Kieda D, Kunde GJ, Lara A, Lee WH, Vargas HL, Linnemann JT, Longinotti AL, Luis-Raya G, Lundeen J, Malone K, Martinez O, Martinez-Castellanos I, Martinez-Castro J, Matthews JA, Miranda-Romagnoli P, Morales-Soto JA, Moreno E, Mostafa M, Nayerhoda A, Nellen L, Newbold M, Nisa MU, Noriega-Papaqui R, Olivera-Nieto L, Peisker A, Perez-Perez EG, Rho CD, Rosa-Gonzalez D, Ruiz-Velasco E, Salazar H, Greus FS, Sandoval A, Schneider M, Schoorlemmer H, Smith AJ, Springer RW, Tollefson K, Torres I, Torres-Escobedo R, Urena-Mena F, Villasenor L, Weisgarber T, Willox E, Zepeda A, Zhou H, Leon CD (2021)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2021

Journal

Book Volume: 907

Journal Issue: 2

DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/abca9a

Abstract

The High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Gamma-Ray Observatory continuously detects TeV photons and particles within its large field of view, accumulating every day a deeper exposure of two-thirds of the sky. We analyzed 1523 days of HAWC live data acquired over four and a half years, in a follow-up analysis of 138 nearby (z < 0.3) active galactic nuclei from the Third Catalog of Hard Fermi-LAT sources culminating within 40 degrees of the zenith at Sierra Negra, the HAWC site. This search for persistent TeV emission used a maximum-likelihood analysis assuming intrinsic power-law spectra attenuated by pair production of gamma-ray photons with the extragalactic background light. HAWC clearly detects persistent emission from Mkn 421 and Mkn 501, the two brightest blazars in the TeV sky, at 65 sigma and 17 sigma level, respectively. Marginal evidence, just above the 3 sigma level, was found for three other known very high-energy emitters: the radio galaxy M87 and the BL Lac objects VER J0521+211 and 1ES 1215+303, the latter two at z similar to 0.1. We find a 4.2 sigma evidence for collective emission from the set of 30 previously reported very high-energy sources, with Mkn 421 and Mkn 501 excluded. Upper limits are presented for the sample under the power-law assumption and in the predefined (0.5-2.0), (2.0-8.0), and (8.0-32.0) TeV energy intervals.

Authors with CRIS profile

Involved external institutions

Los Alamos National Laboratory United States (USA) (US) Universidad Autónoma de Chiapas (UNACH) Mexico (MX) National Autonomous University of Mexico / Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) Mexico (MX) Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo (UMSNH) Mexico (MX) Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) United States (USA) (US) Polska Akademia Nauk (PAN) / Polish Academy of Sciences Poland (PL) University of Rochester (UR) United States (USA) (US) University of Maryland United States (USA) (US) National Institute for Astrophysics / Istituto Nazionale Astrofisica (INAF) Italy (IT) Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla (BUAP) / Meritorious Autonomous University of Puebla Mexico (MX) Universidad de Guadalajara (UDEG) Mexico (MX) University of Wisconsin - Madison United States (USA) (US) Michigan Technological University United States (USA) (US) Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik (MPIK) / Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics Germany (DE) University of Utah United States (USA) (US) Michigan State University United States (USA) (US) Universidad Politécnica de Pachuca (UPP) Mexico (MX) National Polytechnic Institute of Mexico / Instituto Politécnico Nacional de México Mexico (MX) University of New Mexico (UNM) / Universidad de Nuevo México United States (USA) (US) Autonomous University of the State of Hidalgo / Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo Mexico (MX) University of Seoul (UOS) / 서울시립대학교 Korea, Republic of (KR) California University of Pennsylvania United States (USA) (US) Center for Research and Advanced Studies of the National Polytechnic Institute / Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional (CINVESTAV-IPN) Mexico (MX) Shanghai Jiao Tong University / 上海交通大学 China (CN)

How to cite

APA:

Albert, A., Alvarez, C., Camacho, J.R.A., Arteaga-Velazquez, J.C., Arunbabu, K.P., Rojas, D.A.,... Leon, C.D. (2021). A Survey of Active Galaxies at TeV Photon Energies with the HAWC Gamma-Ray Observatory. Astrophysical Journal, 907(2). https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/abca9a

MLA:

Albert, A., et al. "A Survey of Active Galaxies at TeV Photon Energies with the HAWC Gamma-Ray Observatory." Astrophysical Journal 907.2 (2021).

BibTeX: Download