Exceptionally bright TeV flares from the binary LS I +61$^\circ$ 303
Abstract
The TeV binary system LS I +61 303 is known for its regular, non-thermal emission pattern which traces the orbital period of the compact object in its 26.5 day orbit around its B0 Ve star companion. The system typically presents elevated TeV emission around apastron passage with flux levels between 5% and 15% of the steady flux from the Crab Nebula (> 300 GeV). In this article, VERITAS observations of LS I +61 303 taken in late 2014 are presented, during which bright TeV flares around apastron at flux levels peaking above 30% of the Crab Nebula flux were detected. This is the brightest such activity from this source ever seen in the TeV regime. The strong outbursts have rise and fall times of less than a day. The short timescale of the flares, in conjunction with the observation of 10 TeV photons from LS I +61 303 during the flares, provides constraints on the properties of the accelerator in the source.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1601.01812,
title = {Exceptionally bright TeV flares from the binary LS I +61$^\circ$ 303},
author = {VERITAS Collaboration and S. Archambault and A. Archer and T. Aune and A. Barnacka and W. Benbow and R. Bird and M. Buchovecky and J. H. Buckley and V. Bugaev and K. Byrum and J. V. Cardenzana and M. Cerruti and X. Chen and L. Ciupik and E. Collins-Hughes and M. P. Connolly and W. Cui and H. J. Dickinson and J. Dumm and J. D. Eisch and A. Falcone and Q. Feng and J. P. Finley and H. Fleischhack and A. Flinders and P. Fortin and L. Fortson and A. Furniss and G. H. Gillanders and S. Griffin and J. Grube and G. Gyuk and M. Huetten and N. Hakansson and D. Hanna and J. Holder and T. B. Humensky and C. A. Johnson and P. Kaaret and P. Kar and N. Kelley-Hoskins and M. Kertzman and Y. Khassen and D. Kieda and M. Krause and F. Krennrich and S. Kumar and M. J. Lang and G. Maier and S. McArthur and A. McCann and K. Meagher and J. Millis and P. Moriarty and R. Mukherjee and D. Nieto and S. O'Brien and A. O'Faolain de Bhroithe and R. A. Ong and A. N. Otte and D. Pandel and N. Park and V. Pelassa and M. Pohl and A. Popkow and E. Pueschel and J. Quinn and K. Ragan and P. T. Reynolds and G. T. Richards and E. Roache and J. Rousselle and C. Rulten and M. Santander and G. H. Sembroski and K. Shahinyan and A. W. Smith and D. Staszak and I. Telezhinsky and J. V. Tucci and J. Tyler and S. Vincent and S. P. Wakely and O. M. Weiner and A. Weinstein and A. Wilhelm and D. A. Williams and B. Zitzer},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1601.01812},
year = {2016}
}
Comments
9 pages, 2 figures. Accepted for publication by ApJL