[en] After the identification of the gamma-ray blazar TXS 0506+056 as the first compelling IceCube neutrino source candidate, we perform a systematic analysis of all high-energy neutrino events satisfying the IceCube realtime trigger criteria. We find one additional known gamma-ray source, the blazar GB6 J1040+0617, in spatial coincidence with a neutrino in this sample. The chance probability of this coincidence is 30% after trial correction. For the first time, we present a systematic study of the gamma-ray flux, spectral and optical variability, and multi-wavelength behavior of GB6 J1040+0617 and compare it to TXS 0506+056. We find that TXS 0506+056 shows strong flux variability in the Fermi-LAT gamma-ray band, being in an active state around the arrival of IceCube-170922A, but in a low state during the archival IceCube neutrino flare in 2014/15. In both cases the spectral shape is statistically compatible ($\le <!--\; ???\; -->2\mathrm{\sigma <!--\; ??\; -->}$) with the average spectrum showing no indication of a significant relative increase of a high-energy component. While the association of GB6 J1040+0617 with the neutrino is consistent with background expectations, the source appears to be a plausible neutrino source candidate based on its energetics and multi-wavelength features, namely a bright optical flare and modestly increased gamma-ray activity. Finding one or two neutrinos originating from gamma-ray blazars in the given sample of high-energy neutrinos is consistent with previously derived limits of neutrino emission from gamma-ray blazars, indicating the sources of the majority of cosmic high-energy neutrinos remain unknown.

[en] We review the scientific output of more than six years of operation of the Fermi-LAT γ-ray space telescope, focusing in particular on the works by the Fermi-LAT Collaboration.

[en] Context. Blazars are a subset of active galactic nuclei (AGN) with jets that are oriented along our line of sight. Variability and spectral energy distribution (SED) studies are crucial tools for understanding the physical processes responsible for observed AGN emission. Aims. We report peculiar behaviour in the bright γ-ray blazar PKS 1424-418 and use its strong variability to reveal information about the particle acceleration and interactions in the jet. Methods. Correlation analysis of the extensive optical coverage by the ATOM telescope and nearly continuous γ-ray coverage by the Fermi Large Area Telescope is combined with broadband, time-dependent modeling of the SED incorporating supplemental information from radio and X-ray observations of this blazar. Results. We analyse in detail four bright phases at optical-GeV energies. These flares of PKS 1424-418 show high correlation between these energy ranges, with the exception of one large optical flare that coincides with relatively low γ-ray activity. Although the optical/ γ-ray behaviour of PKS 1424-418 shows variety, the multiwavelength modeling indicates that these differences can largely be explained by changes in the flux and energy spectrum of the electrons in the jet that are radiating. We find that for all flares the SED is adequately represented by a leptonic model that includes inverse Compton emission from external radiation fields with similar parameters. Conclusions. Detailed studies of individual blazars like PKS 1424-418 during periods of enhanced activity in different wavebands are helping us identify underlying patterns in the physical parameters in this class of AGN.

[en] Blazar jets are extreme environments, in which relativistic proton interactions with an ultraviolet photon field could give rise to photopion production. High-confidence associations of individual high-energy neutrinos with blazar flares could be achieved via spatially and temporally coincident detections. In 2017, the track-like, extremely high-energy neutrino event IC 170922A was found to coincide with increased γ-ray emission from the blazar TXS 0506+056, leading to the identification of the most promising neutrino point-source candidate so far. We calculate the expected number of neutrino events that can be detected with IceCube, based on a broadband parameterization of bright short-term blazar flares that were observed in the first 6.5 yr of Fermi/Large Area Telescope observations. We find that the integrated keV-to-GeV fluence of most individual blazar flares is far too small to yield a substantial Poisson probability for the detection of one or more neutrinos with IceCube. We show that the sample of potentially detectable high-energy neutrinos from individual blazar flares is rather small. We further show that the blazars 3C 279 and PKS 1510−089 dominate the all-sky neutrino prediction from bright and short-term blazar flares. In the end, we discuss strategies to search for more significant associations in future data unblindings of IceCube and KM3NeT.

[en] High-z blazars (z ≥ 2.5) are the most powerful class of persistent γ-ray sources in the universe. These objects possess the highest jet powers and luminosities and have black hole masses often in excess of 10⁹ solar masses. In addition, high-z blazars are important cosmological probes and serve as test objects for blazar evolution models. Due to their large distance, their high-energy emission typically peaks below the GeV range, which makes them difficult to study with Fermi/Large Area Telescope (LAT). Therefore, only the very brightest objects are detectable and, to date, only a small number of high-z blazars have been detected with Fermi/LAT. In this work, we studied the monthly binned long-term γ-ray emission of a sample of 176 radio and optically detected blazars that have not been reported as known γ-ray sources in the 3FGL catalog. To account for false-positive detections, we calculated monthly Fermi/LAT light curves for a large sample of blank sky positions and derived the number of random fluctuations that we expect at various test statistic (TS) levels. For a given blazar, a detection of TS > 9 in at least one month is expected ∼15% of the time. Although this rate is too high to secure detection of an individual source, half of our sample shows such single-month γ-ray activity, indicating a population of high-energy blazars at distances of up to z = 5.2. Multiple TS > 9 monthly detections are unlikely to happen by chance, and we have detected several individual new sources in this way, including the most distant γ-ray blazar, BZQ J1430+4204 (z = 4.72). Finally, two new γ-ray blazars at redshifts of z = 3.63 and z = 3.11 are unambiguously detected via very significant (TS > 25) flares in individual monthly time bins.

[en] Motivated by the identification of the blazar TXS 0506+056 as the first promising high-energy neutrino counterpart candidate, we search for additional neutrino blazar candidates among the Fermi–Large Area Telescope detected blazars. We investigate the multiwavelength behavior from radio to GeV gamma-rays of blazars found to be in spatial coincidence with single high-energy neutrinos and lower-energy neutrino flare candidates. In addition, we compare the average gamma-ray emission of the potential neutrino-emitting sources to the entire sample of gamma-ray blazars. We find that neutrino-emitting blazar candidates are statistically compatible with hypotheses of both a linear correlation and no correlation between neutrino and gamma-ray energy flux.

[en] We use nine years of γ-ray data provided by the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) to systematically study the light curves (LCs) of more than 2000 active galactic nuclei (AGN) included in recent Fermi-LAT catalogs. Ten different techniques are used, which are organized in an automatic periodicity-search pipeline, in order to search for evidence of periodic emission in γ rays. Understanding the processes behind this puzzling phenomenon will provide a better view about the astrophysical nature of these extragalactic sources. However, the observation of temporal patterns in γ-ray LCs of AGN is still challenging. Despite the fact that there have been efforts to characterize the temporal emission of some individual sources, a systematic search for periodicities by means of a full likelihood analysis applied to large samples of sources was missing. Our analysis finds 11 AGN, of which 9 are identified for the first time, showing periodicity at more than 4σ in at least four algorithms. These findings will help in solving questions related to the astrophysical origin of this periodic behavior.

[en] The search for detection of γ-rays from distant AGNs by Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) is challenging at high redshifts, not only because of lower flux due to the distance of the source, but also due to the consequent absorption of γ-rays by the extragalactic background light (EBL). Before the MAGIC discoveries reported in this work, the farthest source ever detected in the VHE domain was the blazar PKS 1424+240, at z > 0.6. MAGIC, a system of two 17 m of diameter IACTs located in the Canary island of La Palma, has been able to go beyond that limit and push the boundaries for VHE detection to redshifts z ∼ 1. The two sources detected and analyzed, the blazar QSO B0218+357 and the FSRQ PKS 1441+25 are located at redshift z = 0.944 and z = 0.939 respectively. QSO B0218+357 is also the first gravitational lensed blazar ever detected in VHE. The activity, triggered by Fermi- LAT in high energy γ-rays, was followed up by other instruments, such as the KVA telescope in the optical band and the Swift- XRT in X-rays. In the present work we show results on MAGIC analysis on QSO B0218+357 and PKS 1441+25 together with multiwavelength lightcurves. The collected dataset allowed us to test for the first time the present generation of EBL models at such distances. (paper)

[en] The BL Lacertae object 3C 66A was detected in a flaring state by the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) and VERITAS in 2008 October. In addition to these gamma-ray observations, F-GAMMA, GASP-WEBT, PAIRITEL, MDM, ATOM, Swift, and Chandra provided radio to X-ray coverage. The available light curves show variability and, in particular, correlated flares are observed in the optical and Fermi-LAT gamma-ray band. The resulting spectral energy distribution can be well fitted using standard leptonic models with and without an external radiation field for inverse Compton scattering. It is found, however, that only the model with an external radiation field can accommodate the intra-night variability observed at optical wavelengths.

[en] Nearby clusters and groups of galaxies are potentially bright sources of high-energy gamma-ray emission resulting from the pair-annihilation of dark matter particles. However, no significant gamma-ray emission has been detected so far from clusters in the first 11 months of observations with the Fermi Large Area Telescope. We interpret this non-detection in terms of constraints on dark matter particle properties. In particular for leptonic annihilation final states and particle masses greater than ∼ 200 GeV, gamma-ray emission from inverse Compton scattering of CMB photons is expected to dominate the dark matter annihilation signal from clusters, and our gamma-ray limits exclude large regions of the parameter space that would give a good fit to the recent anomalous Pamela and Fermi-LAT electron-positron measurements. We also present constraints on the annihilation of more standard dark matter candidates, such as the lightest neutralino of supersymmetric models. The constraints are particularly strong when including the fact that clusters are known to contain substructure at least on galaxy scales, increasing the expected gamma-ray flux by a factor of ∼ 5 over a smooth-halo assumption. We also explore the effect of uncertainties in cluster dark matter density profiles, finding a systematic uncertainty in the constraints of roughly a factor of two, but similar overall conclusions. In this work, we focus on deriving limits on dark matter models; a more general consideration of the Fermi-LAT data on clusters and clusters as gamma-ray sources is forthcoming