Related papers: The VERITAS Blazar Key Science Project
The VERITAS collaboration has observed the high-frequency-peaked BL Lac object 1ES 1218+304 using an array of several imaging Cherenkov telescopes located at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory in Southern Arizona. A gamma-ray signal was…
High-energy photons are a powerful probe for astrophysics and for fundamental physics under extreme conditions. During the recent years, our knowledge of the most violent phenomena in the universe has impressively progressed thanks to the…
We present results of observations in the UV to near-IR range for eight blazars, three of which have been recently discovered at Very High Energies (VHE) and five appearing as interesting candidates for VHE {\gamma}-ray detection. We focus…
VERITAS is an atmospheric Cherenkov telescope array sited in Tucson, Arizona. The array is nearing completion and consists of four, 12m diameter telescopes. The first telescope in the array has been operating since February 2005, while…
We conduct a search for periodic emission in the very high-energy gamma-ray band (VHE; E > 100 GeV) from a total of 13 pulsars in an archival VERITAS data set with a total exposure of over 450 hours. The set of pulsars includes many of the…
VERITAS is a proposed major ground-based gamma-ray observatory to be built at the Whipple Observatory in southern Arizona, USA. It will consist of an array of seven 10m imaging Cherenkov telescopes designed to conduct gamma-ray observations…
The Cygnus region is a very active region of our Galaxy with many sources of GeV and TeV gamma-ray emission, such as supernova remnants, pulsar wind nebulae, and massive star clusters. A detailed study of the Cygnus region at these energies…
The VERITAS gamma-ray observatory, situated in southern Arizona, is an array of four 12m diameter imaging Cherenkov telescopes, each with a 499-pixel photomultiplier-tube camera. The instrument is designed to detect astrophysical gamma rays…
Extreme high-synchrotron-peak blazars (EHSPs) are postulated as the most efficient and extreme particle accelerators in the universe but remain enigmatic as a possible new class of TeV gamma-ray blazars. Blazars are active galactic nuclei…
Around 160 gamma-ray pulsars were discovered by the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) since 2008. The most energetic of them, 12 objects with emission above 25 GeV, are suitable candidates for the detection with the current and future…
We present results from an intensive VERITAS monitoring campaign of the high-frequency peaked BL Lac object 1ES 1218+304 in 2008/2009. Although 1ES 1218+304 was detected previously by MAGIC and VERITAS at a persistent level of ~6% of the…
The Crab Nebula is the brightest source in the very-high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray sky and one of the best studied non-thermal objects. The dominant VHE emission mechanism is believed to be inverse Compton scattering of low energy photons on…
After nearly a decade of operation, the three major arrays of atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes have revolutionized our view of the Very High Energy Universe, unveiling more than 100 sources of various types. MAGIC, consisting of two 17 m…
In the last few years, the Fermi-LAT telescope has discovered over a 100 pulsars at energies above 100 MeV, increasing the number of known gamma-ray pulsars by an order of magnitude. In parallel, imaging Cherenkov telescopes, such as MAGIC…
During moonlit nights, observations with ground-based Cherenkov telescopes at very high energies (VHE, $E>100$ GeV) are constrained since the photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) in the telescope camera are extremely sensitive to the background…
Extremely high-peaked BL Lac objects - also named extreme blazars - are among the most energetic and persistent extragalactic accelerators in the Universe, defined by a synchrotron emission peaking above $10^{17}$ Hz in X-rays. Such…
We report on the discovery of high-energy (HE; E > 0.1 GeV) and very high-energy (VHE; E > 100 GeV) gamma-ray emission from the high-frequency-peaked BL Lac object RBS 0413. VERITAS, a ground-based gamma-ray observatory, detected VHE gamma…
The discovery of the high-frequency-peaked BL Lac object 1ES 0806+524 (z=0.138) as a source of very-high-energy (VHE, E>100 GeV) gamma-ray photons was announced in 2008 by the VERITAS Collaboration, at a level of 1.8% of the Crab Nebula…
Blazars are active galactic nuclei, and the most numerous High Energy (HE) and Very High Energy (VHE) gamma-ray emitters. Their optical emission is often dominated by non-thermal, and, in the case of BL Lacs, featureless continuum…
The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) will provide very-high-energy (VHE; >~30 GeV) gamma-ray spectra of unprecedented resolution over a large energy range. It is likely that, at least for bright sources, spectral features will be revealed…