V. A. Acciari et al 2009 ApJ 693 L104 doi:10.1088/0004-637X/693/2/L104
V. A. Acciari1, E. Aliu2, T. Arlen3, M. Beilicke4, W. Benbow5, M. Böttcher6, S. M. Bradbury7, J. H. Buckley4, V. Bugaev4, Y. Butt8, K. Byrum9, A. Cannon10, O. Celik3, A. Cesarini11, Y. C. Chow3, L. Ciupik12, P. Cogan13, W. Cui14, M. K. Daniel7,30, R. Dickherber4, T. Ergin8, A. Falcone15, S. J. Fegan3, J. P. Finley14, P. Fortin16, L. Fortson12, A. Furniss17, D. Gall14, K. Gibbs5, G. H. Gillanders11, S. Godambe18, J. Grube10, R. Guenette13, G. Gyuk12, D. Hanna13, E. Hays19, J. Holder2, D. Horan20, C. M. Hui18, T. B. Humensky21, A. Imran22, P. Kaaret23, N. Karlsson12, M. Kertzman24, D. Kieda18, J. Kildea5, A. Konopelko25, H. Krawczynski4, F. Krennrich22, M. J. Lang11, S. LeBohec18, G. Maier13, A. McCann13, M. McCutcheon13, J. Millis26, P. Moriarty1, R. Mukherjee16, T. Nagai22, R. A. Ong3, A. N. Otte17, D. Pandel23, J. S. Perkins5,31, D. Petry27, F. Pizlo14, M. Pohl22, J. Quinn10, K. Ragan13, L. C. Reyes28, P. T. Reynolds29, E. Roache5, H. J. Rose7, M. Schroedter22, G. H. Sembroski14, A. W. Smith9, D. Steele12, S. P. Swordy21, M. Theiling5, J. A. Toner11, A. Varlotta14, V. V. Vassiliev3, R. G. Wagner9, S. P. Wakely21, J. E. Ward10, T. C. Weekes5, A. Weinstein3, D. A. Williams17, S. Wissel21, M. Wood3 and B. Zitzer14
Show affiliationsThe intermediate-frequency peaked BL Lacertae (IBL) object 3C 66A is detected during 2007-2008 in VHE (very high energy; E > 100 GeV) γ rays with the VERITAS stereoscopic array of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes. An excess of 1791 events is detected, corresponding to a significance of 21.2 standard deviations (σ), in these observations (32.8 hr live time). The observed integral flux above 200 GeV is 6% of the Crab Nebula's flux and shows evidence for variability on the timescale of days. The measured energy spectrum is characterized by a soft power law with photon index Γ = 4.1 ± 0.4stat ± 0.6sys. The radio galaxy 3C 66B is excluded as a possible source of the VHE emission.
BL Lacertae objects: individual (3C 66A); galaxies: active; gamma rays: observations
95.55.Ka X- and &ggr;-ray telescopes and instrumentation
95.55.Vj Neutrino, muon, pion, and other elementary particle detectors; cosmic ray detectors
98.62.Py Distances, redshifts, radial velocities; spatial distribution of galaxies
Issue 2 (2009 March 10)
Received 2009 January 19, accepted for publication 2009 January 28
Published 2009 February 18
V. A. Acciari et al 2009 ApJ 693 L104
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