Published in

Oxford University Press (OUP), Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 3(421), p. 2303-2309

DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2012.20451.x

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Discovery of γ-ray emission from the broad-line radio galaxy Pictor A

Journal article published in 2012 by Anthony M. Brown ORCID, Jenni Adams
This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.
This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.

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Postprint: archiving allowed
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Published version: archiving allowed
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

We report the discovery of high-energy γ-ray emission from the Broad Line Radio Galaxy (BLRG) Pictor A with a significance of ~5.8σ (TS=33.4), based on three years of observations with the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) detector. The three-year averaged E>0.2 GeV γ-ray spectrum is adequately described by a power-law, with a photon index, Γ, of $2.93 ± 0.03$ and a resultant integrated flux of $F_{γ}=(5.8±0.7) \times 10^{-9}$ ph cm$^{-2}$s$^{-1}$. A temporal investigation of the observed γ-ray flux, which binned the flux into year long intervals, reveals that the flux in the third year was 50% higher than the three-year average flux. This observation, coupled with the fact that this source was not detected in the first two years of {Fermi-LAT observations, suggests variability on timescales of a year or less. Synchrotron Self-Compton modelling of the spectral energy distribution of a prominent hot-spot in Pictor A's western radio lobe is performed. It is found that the models in which the γ-ray emission originates within the lobes, predicts an X-ray flux larger than that observed. Given that the X-ray emission in the radio lobe hot-spots has been resolved with the current suite of X-ray detectors, we suggest that the γ-ray emission from Pictor A originates from within its jet, which is in agreement with other γ-ray loud BLRGs. This suggestion is consistent with the evidence that the γ-ray flux is variable on timescales of a year or less. ; Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS: 8 pages, 3 figures, 1 table