The 2009 december gamma-ray flare of 3C 454.3: The multifrequency campaign
Journal
THE ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL LETTERS
Date Issued
2010
Author(s)
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Sakamoto, T.
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Sasada, M.
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Itoh, R.
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Yamanaka, M.
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Uemura, M.
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Striani, E.
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Tiengo, A.
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Krimm, H.A.
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Stroh, M.C.
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Falcone, A.D.
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Curran, P.A.
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Sadun, A.C.
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Lahteenmaki, A.
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Tornikoski, M.
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Aller, H.D.
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Aller, M.F.
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Lin, C.S.
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Larionov, V.M.
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Takalo, L.O.
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Berdyugin, A.
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Gurwell, M.A.
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Chen, A.W.
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Donnarumma, I.
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Longo, F.
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Pucella, G.
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Barbiellini, G.
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Cattaneo, P.W.
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Monte, E.D.
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Cocco, G.D.
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Ferrari, A.
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Galli, M.
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Lapshov, I.
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Lipari, P.
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Morelli, E.
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Moretti, E.
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Morselli, A.
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Perotti, F.
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Picozza, P.
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Prest, M.
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Rapisarda, M.
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Rappoldi, A.
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Rubini, A.
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Sabatini, S.
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Vallazza, E.
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Zanello, D.
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Colafrancesco, S.
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Santolamazza, P.
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Giommi, P.
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Salotti, L.
DOI
10.1088/2041-8205/716/2/L170
Abstract
During the month of 2009 December, the blazar 3C 454.3 became the brightest gamma-ray source in the sky, reaching a peak flux F 2000 × 10 -8 photons cm-2 s-1 for E > 100 MeV. Starting in 2009 November intensive multifrequency campaigns monitored the 3C 454 gamma-ray outburst. Here, we report on the results of a two-month campaign involving AGILE, INTEGRAL, Swift/XRT, Swift/BAT, and Rossi XTE for the high-energy observations and Swift/UVOT, KANATA, Goddard Robotic Telescope, and REM for the near-IR/optical/UV data. GASP/WEBT provided radio and additional optical data. We detected a long-term active emission phase lasting 1 month at all wavelengths: in the gamma-ray band, peak emission was reached on 2009 December 2-3. Remarkably, this gamma-ray super-flare was not accompanied by correspondingly intense emission in the optical/UV band that reached a level substantially lower than the previous observations in 2007-2008. The lack of strong simultaneous optical brightening during the super-flare and the determination of the broadband spectral evolution severely constrain the theoretical modeling. We find that the pre- and post-flare broadband behavior can be explained by a one-zone model involving synchrotron self-Compton plus external Compton emission from an accretion disk and a broad-line region. However, the spectra of the 2009 December 2-3 super-flare and of the secondary peak emission on 2009 December 9 cannot be satisfactorily modeled by a simple one-zone model. An additional particle component is most likely active during these states. © 2010. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
Volume
716
Issue
2
Start page
L170
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