Agile detection of a strong gamma-ray flare from the blazar 3C 454.3
- S. Vercellone
- A. W. Chen
- A. Giuliani
- A. Bulgarelli
- I. Donnarumma
- I. Lapshov
- M. Tavani
- A. Argan
- G. Barbiellini
- P. Caraveo
- V. Cocco
- E. Costa
- F. D'Ammando
- E. D. Monte
- G. D. Paris
- G. D. Cocco
- Y. Evangelista
- M. Feroci
- M. Fiorini
- T. Froysland
- F. Fuschino
- M. Galli
- F. Gianotti
- C. Labanti
- F. Lazzarotto
- P. Lipari
- F. Longo
- M. Marisaldi
- F. Mauri
- S. Mereghetti
- A. Morselli
- L. Pacciani
- A. Pellizzoni
- F. Perotti
- P. Picozza
- M. Prest
- G. Pucella
- M. Rapisarda
- P. Soffitta
- M. Trifoglio
- A. Trois
- E. Vallazza
- V. Vittorini
- A. Zambra
- D. Zanello
- C. Pittori
- F. Verrecchia
- D. Gasparrini
- S. Cutini
- P. Giommi
- L. A. Antonelli
- S. Colafrancesco
- L. Salotti
DOIAbstract
We report the first blazar detection by AGILE. AGILE detected 3C 454.3 during a period of strongly enhanced optical emission in 2007 July. AGILE observed the source with a dedicated repointing during the period 2007 July 24-30 with its two co-aligned imagers, the Gamma-Ray Imaging Detector and the hard X-ray imager Super-AGILE sensitive in the 30 MeV to 50 GeV and 18-60 keV ranges, respectively. Over the entire period, AGILE detected gamma-ray emission from 3C 454.3 at a significance level of 13.8 sigma with an average flux (E > 100 MeV) of (280 +/- 40) x 10(-8) photons cm(-2) s(-1). The gamma-ray flux appears to be variable toward the end of the observation. No emission was detected by Super-AGILE in the energy range 20-60 keV, with a 3 si...
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