Search for High Energy Gamma Rays from an X-ray Selected Blazar Sample

Abstract

Our understanding of blazars has been greatly increased in recent years by extensive multi-wavelength observations, particularly in the radio, X-ray and gamma-ray regions. Over the past decade the Whipple 10m telescope has contributed to this with the detection of 5 BL Lacertae objects at very high gamma-ray energies. The combination of multi-wavelength data has shown that blazars follow a well-defined sequence in terms of their broadband spectral properties. Together with providing constraints on emission models, this information has yielded a means by which potential sources of TeV emission may be identified and predictions made as to their possible gamma-ray flux. We have used the Whipple telescope to search for TeV gamma-ray emission from eight objects selected from a list of such candidates. No evidence has been found for VHE emission from the objects in our sample, and upper limits have been derived for the mean gamma-ray flux above 390GeV. These flux upper limits are compared with the model predictions and the implications of our results for future observations are discussed.

15 pages, 2 figures, Accepted for publication in ApJ

References in corpus (7)

• TeV candidate BL Lac objects
• What Types of Jets does Nature Make: A New Population of Radio Quasars
• Low power BL Lacertae objects and the blazar sequence: Clues on the particle acceleration process
• Detection of TeV Gamma Rays from the BL Lac Object 1ES1959+650 with the Whipple 10m Telescope
• Discovery of Spectral Variability of Markarian 421 at TeV Energies
• Detection of the BL Lac Object H1426+428 at TeV Gamma Ray Energies
• The Cosmic Ray Background as a Tool for Relative Calibration of Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes

Cited by in corpus (19)

• New constraints on the Mid-IR EBL from the HESS discovery of VHE gamma rays from 1ES 0229+200
• Multiwavelength Observations of Markarian 421 in March 2001: an Unprecedented View on the X-ray/TeV Correlated Variability
• TeV and Multi-wavelength Observations of Mrk 421 in 2006-2008
• Fermi observations of TeV-selected AGN
• The NuSTAR view on Hard-TeV BL Lacs
• A Three-Year Multi-Wavelength Study of the Very High Energy Gamma-ray Blazar 1ES 0229+200
• Detection of VHE radiation from the BL Lac PG 1553+113 with the MAGIC telescope
• Evidence for VHE Gamma-ray Emission from the Distant BL Lac PG 1553+113
• Observations of Selected AGN with H.E.S.S
• Discovery of Very High-Energy Gamma-Ray Radiation from the BL Lac 1ES 0806+524
• Multiwavelength Observations of the Blazar Mrk 421 in December 2002 and January 2003
• Constraints on the Very High Energy Emission from BL Lacertae Objects
• New hard-TeV extreme blazars detected with the MAGIC telescopes
• Gamma-Ray Observational Properties of TeV-Detected Blazars
• Multiwavelength observations of the AGN 1ES 0414+009 with VERITAS, Fermi-LAT, Swift-XRT, and MDM
• A Search for TeV Gamma-Ray Emission from High-Peaked Flat Spectrum Radio Quasars Using the Whipple Air-Cherenkov Telescope
• MAGIC detection of short-term variability of the high-peaked BL Lac object 1ES 0806+524
• Observations of Extragalactic Sources with the MAGIC Telescope
• Six-year Optical Monitoring of BL Lacertae Object 1ES 0806+52.4