Fermi/Large Area Telescope Discovery of Gamma-Ray Emission from the Flat-Spectrum Radio Quasar PKS 1454-354
Abstract
We report the discovery by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) onboard the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope of high-energy γ-ray (GeV) emission from the flat-spectrum radio quasar PKS 1454-354 (z = 1.424). On 2008 September 4, the source rose to a peak flux of (3.5 ± 0.7) × 10-6 ph cm-2 s-1 (E > 100 MeV) on a timescale of hours and then slowly dropped over the following 2 days. No significant spectral changes occurred during the flare. Fermi/LAT observations also showed that PKS 1454-354 is the most probable counterpart of the unidentified EGRET source 3EG J1500-3509. Multiwavelength measurements performed during the following days (7 September with Swift; 6-7 September with the ground-based optical telescope Automated Telescope for Optical Monitoring; 13 September with the Australia Telescope Compact Array) resulted in radio, optical, UV, and X-ray fluxes greater than archival data, confirming the activity of PKS 1454-354.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- May 2009
- DOI:
- 10.1088/0004-637X/697/1/934
- arXiv:
- arXiv:0903.1713
- Bibcode:
- 2009ApJ...697..934A
- Keywords:
-
- galaxies: active;
- gamma rays: observations;
- quasars: individual: PKS 1454–354;
- Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena;
- Astrophysics - Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 8 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication on ApJ Main Journal