Ref HAL: in2p3-00654867_v1
Ref Arxiv: 1103.4108
DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/736/1/L11
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78 citations

Ref HAL: hal-00651320_v1
DOI: 10.1126/SCIENCE.1210311
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Ref HAL: in2p3-00532895_v1
DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/722/1/520
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220 citations
Abstract:

This paper presents light curves as well as the first systematic characterization of variability of the 106 objects in the high-confidence Fermi Large Area Telescope Bright AGN Sample (LBAS). Weekly light curves of this sample, obtained during the first 11 months of the Fermi survey (2008 August 4–2009 July 4), are tested for variability and their properties are quantified through autocorrelation function and structure function analysis. For the brightest sources, 3 or 4 day binned light curves are extracted in order to determine power density spectra (PDSs) and to fit the temporal structure of major flares. More than 50% of the sources are found to be variable with high significance, where high states do not exceed 1/4 of the total observation range. Variation amplitudes are larger for flat spectrum radio quasars and low/intermediate synchrotron frequency peaked BL Lac objects. Autocorrelation timescales derived from weekly light curves vary from four to a dozen of weeks. Variable sources of the sample have weekly and 3–4 day bin light curves that can be described by 1/f α PDS, and show two kinds of gamma-ray variability: (1) rather constant baseline with sporadic flaring activity characterized by flatter PDS slopes resembling flickering and red noise with occasional intermittence and (2)—measured for a few blazars showing strong activity—complex and structured temporal profiles characterized by long-term memory and steeper PDS slopes, reflecting a random walk underlying mechanism. The average slope of the PDS of the brightest 22 FSRQs and of the 6 brightest BL Lacs is 1.5 and 1.7, respectively. The study of temporal profiles of well-resolved flares observed in the 10 brightest LBAS sources shows that they generally have symmetric profiles and that their total duration vary between 10 and 100 days. Results presented here can assist in source class recognition for unidentified sources and can serve as reference for more detailed analysis of the brightest gamma-ray blazars

Ref HAL: in2p3-00530295_v1
DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/721/2/1383
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112 citations
Abstract:

The flat spectrum radio quasar 3C 454.3 underwent an extraordinary outburst in 2009 December when it became the brightest γ-ray source in the sky for over 1 week. Its daily flux measured with the Fermi-Large Area Telescope at photon energies E>100 MeV reached F 100 = 22 ± 1 × 10–6 photon cm–2 s–1, representing the highest daily flux of any blazar ever recorded in high-energy γ-rays. It again became the brightest source in the sky in 2010 April, triggering a pointed-mode observation by Fermi. The correlated γ-ray temporal and spectral properties during these exceptional events are presented and discussed. The main results show flux variability over time scales less than 3 hr and very mild spectral variability with an indication of gradual hardening preceding major flares. The light curves during periods of enhanced activity in 2008 July-August and 2010 December show strong resemblance, with a flux plateau of a few days preceding the major flare. No consistent loop pattern emerged in the γ-ray spectral index versus the flux plane as would be expected in acceleration and cooling scenarios. The maximum energy of a photon from 3C 454.3 is ≈20 GeV and a minimum Doppler factor of ≈13 is derived. The γ-ray spectrum of 3C 454.3 shows a significant spectral break between ≈2 and 3 GeV that is very weakly dependent on the flux state, even when the flux changes by an order of magnitude.

Ref HAL: in2p3-00530049_v1
Ref Arxiv: 1007.1624
DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/720/1/912
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126 citations
Abstract:

Analysis is presented on 15 months of data taken with the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope for 11 non-blazar AGNs, including 7 FRI radio galaxies and 4 FRII radio sources consisting of 2 FRII radio galaxies and 2 steep spectrum radio quasars. The broad line FRI radio galaxy 3C 120 is reported here as a gamma-ray source for the first time. The analysis is based on directional associations of LAT sources with radio sources in the 3CR, 3CRR and MS4 (collectively referred to as 3C-MS) catalogs. Seven of the eleven LAT sources associated with 3C-MS radio sources have spectral indices larger than 2.3 and, except for the FRI radio galaxy NGC 1275 that shows possible spectral curvature, are well described by a power law. No evidence for time variability is found for any sources other than NGC 1275. The gamma-ray luminosities of FRI radio galaxies are significantly smaller than those of BL Lac objects detected by the LAT, whereas the gamma-ray luminosities of FRII sources are quite similar to those of FSRQs, which could reflect different beaming factors for the gamma-ray emission. A core dominance study of the 3CRR sample indicate that sources closer to the jet axis are preferentially detected with the Fermi-LAT, insofar as the gamma-ray--detected misaligned AGNs have larger core dominance at a given average radio flux. The results are discussed in view of the AGN unification scenario.

Comments: 28 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal

Ref HAL: in2p3-00530044_v1
Ref Arxiv: 1003.0895
DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/720/1/435
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161 citations
Abstract:

This is the first of a series of papers aimed at characterizing the populations detected in the high-latitude sky of the {\it Fermi}-LAT survey. In this work we focus on the intrinsic spectral and flux properties of the source sample. We show that when selection effects are properly taken into account, {\it Fermi} sources are on average steeper than previously found (e.g. in the bright source list) with an average photon index of 2.40$\pm0.02$ over the entire 0.1--100\,GeV energy band. We confirm that FSRQs have steeper spectra than BL Lac objects with an average index of 2.48$\pm0.02$ versus 2.18$\pm0.02$. Using several methods we build the deepest source count distribution at GeV energies deriving that the intrinsic source (i.e. blazar) surface density at F$_{100}\geq10^{-9}$\,ph cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ is 0.12$^{+0.03}_{-0.02}$\,deg$^{-2}$. The integration of the source count distribution yields that point sources contribute 16$(\pm1.8)$\,\% ($\pm$7\,\% systematic uncertainty) of the GeV isotropic diffuse background. At the fluxes currently reached by LAT we can rule out the hypothesis that point-like sources (i.e. blazars) produce a larger fraction of the diffuse emission.

Comments: Version replaced to match the published one. Contact authors: M. Ajello and A. Tramacere

Ref HAL: in2p3-00530035_v1
Ref Arxiv: 1007.1142
DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/720/1/272
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63 citations
Abstract:

We report on the \textit{Fermi}-LAT observations of the Geminga pulsar, the second brightest non-variable GeV source in the $\gamma$-ray sky and the first example of a radio-quiet $\gamma$-ray pulsar. The observations cover one year, from the launch of the $Fermi$ satellite through 2009 June 15. A data sample of over 60,000 photons enabled us to build a timing solution based solely on $\gamma$ rays. Timing analysis shows two prominent peaks, separated by $\Delta \phi$ = 0.497 $\pm$ 0.004 in phase, which narrow with increasing energy. Pulsed $\gamma$ rays are observed beyond 18 GeV, precluding emission below 2.7 stellar radii because of magnetic absorption. The phase-averaged spectrum was fitted with a power law with exponential cut-off of spectral index $\Gamma$ = (1.30 $\pm$ 0.01 $\pm$ 0.04), cut-off energy $E_{0}$ = (2.46 $\pm$ 0.04 $\pm$ 0.17) GeV and an integral photon flux above 0.1 GeV of (4.14 $\pm$ 0.02 $\pm$ 0.32) $\times$ 10$^{-6}$ cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$. The first uncertainties are statistical and the second are systematic. The phase-resolved spectroscopy shows a clear evolution of the spectral parameters, with the spectral index reaching a minimum value just before the leading peak and the cut-off energy having maxima around the peaks. Phase-resolved spectroscopy reveals that pulsar emission is present at all rotational phases. The spectral shape, broad pulse profile, and maximum photon energy favor the outer magnetospheric emission scenarios.

Comments: 32 pages, 12 figures, 3 tables. Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal. Corresponding authors: Denis Dumora (dumora@cenbg.in2p3.fr), Fabio Gargano (Fabio.Gargano@ba.infn.it), Massimiliano Razzano (massimiliano.razzano@pi.infn.it)