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1. VTSCat: The VERITAS Catalog of Gamma-Ray Observations

   https://doi.org/10.22323/1.395.0812  

   Patel, Sameer; Maier, Gernot; Kaaret, Philip; Otte, A.; Falcone, Abe; Gent, Alasdair E.; Chromey, Alisha; Weinstein, Amanda; Furniss, Amy; Brill, Aryeh; et al (March 2022, 37th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2021))

   We present a catalog of results of gamma-ray observations made by VERITAS, published from 2008 to 2020. VERITAS is a ground based imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope observatory located at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory (FLWO) in southern Arizona, sensitive to gamma-ray photons with energies in the range of ∼ 100 GeV - 30 TeV. Its observation targets include galactic sources such as binary star systems, pulsar wind nebulae, and supernova remnants, extragalactic sources like active galactic nuclei, star forming galaxies, and gamma-ray bursts, and some unidentified objects. The catalog includes in digital form all of the high-level science results published in 112 papers using VERITAS data and currently contains data on 57 sources. The catalog has been made accessible via GitHub and at NASA's HEASARC. 

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2. Optical spectroscopy of blazars for the Cherenkov Telescope Array – II

   https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stac3167  

   Kasai, E.; Goldoni, P.; Pita, S.; Williams, D. A.; Max-Moerbeck, W.; Hervet, O.; Cotter, G.; Backes, M.; Boisson, C.; Becerra González, J.; et al (November 2022, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society)

   ABSTRACT Active galactic nuclei (AGNs) make up about 35 per cent of the more than 250 sources detected in very high-energy (VHE) gamma rays to date with the imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes. Apart from four nearby radio galaxies and two AGNs of unknown type, all known VHE AGNs are blazars. Knowledge of the cosmological redshift of gamma-ray blazars is key to enabling the study of their intrinsic emission properties, as the interaction between gamma rays and the extragalactic background light (EBL) results in a spectral softening. Therefore, the redshift determination exercise is crucial to indirectly placing tight constraints on the EBL density, and to studying blazar population evolution across cosmic time. Due to the powerful relativistic jets in blazars, most of their host galaxies’ spectral features are outshined, and dedicated high signal-to-noise (S/N) spectroscopic observations are required. Deep medium- to high-resolution spectroscopy of 33 gamma-ray blazar optical counterparts was performed with the European Southern Observatory, New Technology Telescope, Keck II telescope, Shane 3-metre telescope, and the Southern African Large Telescope. From the sample, spectra from 25 objects display spectral features or are featureless and have high S/N. The other eight objects have low-quality featureless spectra. We systematically searched for absorption and emission features and estimated, when possible, the fractional host galaxy flux in the measured total flux. Our measurements yielded 14 firm spectroscopic redshifts, ranging from 0.0838 to 0.8125, one tentative redshift, and two lower limits: one at $z > 0.382$ and the other at z > 0.629. 

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3. VERITAS Discovery of Very High Energy Gamma-Ray Emission from S3 1227+25 and Multiwavelength Observations

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/acd2d0  

   Acharyya, A.; Adams, C. B.; Archer, A.; Bangale, P.; Benbow, W.; Brill, A.; Christiansen, J. L.; Chromey, A. J.; Errando, M.; Falcone, A.; et al (June 2023, The Astrophysical Journal)

   Abstract We report the detection of very high energy gamma-ray emission from the blazar S3 1227+25 (VER J1230+253) with the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS). VERITAS observations of the source were triggered by the detection of a hard-spectrum GeV flare on 2015 May 15 with the Fermi-Large Area Telescope (LAT). A combined 5 hr VERITAS exposure on May 16 and 18 resulted in a strong 13σdetection with a differential photon spectral index, Γ = 3.8 ± 0.4, and a flux level at 9% of the Crab Nebula above 120 GeV. This also triggered target-of-opportunity observations with Swift, optical photometry, polarimetry, and radio measurements, also presented in this work, in addition to the VERITAS and Fermi-LAT data. A temporal analysis of the gamma-ray flux during this period finds evidence of a shortest variability timescale ofτ_obs= 6.2 ± 0.9 hr, indicating emission from compact regions within the jet, and the combined gamma-ray spectrum shows no strong evidence of a spectral cutoff. An investigation into correlations between the multiwavelength observations found evidence of optical and gamma-ray correlations, suggesting a single-zone model of emission. Finally, the multiwavelength spectral energy distribution is well described by a simple one-zone leptonic synchrotron self-Compton radiation model. 

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4. Panoramic SETI: program update and high-energy astrophysics applications

   https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2630772  

   Maire, Jérôme; Wright, Shelley A.; Holder, Jamie; Anderson, David P.; Benbow, Wynstan; Brown, Aaron; Cosens, Maren; Foote, Gregory; Hanlon, William .; Hervet, Olivier; et al (August 2022, Proceedings of the SPIE)

   Evans, Christopher J.; Bryant, Julia J.; Motohara, Kentaro (Ed.)

   Optical SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) instruments that can explore the very fast time domain, especially with large sky coverage, offer an opportunity for new discoveries that can complement multimessenger and time domain astrophysics. The Panoramic SETI experiment (PANOSETI) aims to observe optical transients with nanosecond to second duration over a wide field-of-view (∼2,500 sq.deg.) by using two assemblies of tens of telescopes to reject spurious signals by coincidence detection. Three PANOSETI telescopes, connected to a White Rabbit timing network used to synchronize clocks at the nanosecond level, have been deployed at Lick Observatory on two sites separated by a distance of 677 meters to distinguish nearby light sources (such as Cherenkov light from particle showers in the Earth’s atmosphere) from astrophysical sources at large distances. In parallel to this deployment, we present results obtained during four nights of simultaneous observations with the four 12-meter VERITAS gamma-ray telescopes and two PANOSETI telescopes at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory. We report PANOSETI’s first detection of astrophysical gamma rays, comprising three events with energies in the range between ∼15 TeV and ∼50 TeV. These were emitted by the Crab Nebula, and identified as gamma rays using joint VERITAS observations. 

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5. Detailed Analysis of the TeV γ-Ray Sources 3HWC J1928+178, 3HWC J1930+188, and the New Source HAWC J1932+192

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac8de3  

   Albert, A.; Alfaro, R.; Alvarez, C.; Arteaga-Velázquez, J. C.; Rojas, D. Avila; Solares, H. A.; Babu, R.; Belmont-Moreno, E.; Brisbois, C.; Caballero-Mora, K. S.; et al (January 2023, The Astrophysical Journal)

   Abstract The latest High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) point-like source catalog up to 56 TeV reported the detection of two sources in the region of the Galactic plane at galactic longitude 52° < ℓ < 55°, 3HWC J1930+188 and 3HWC J1928+178. The first one is associated with a known TeV source, the supernova remnant SNR G054.1+00.3. It was discovered by one of the currently operating Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope (IACT), the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS), detected by the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S), and identified as a composite SNR. However, the source 3HWC J1928+178, discovered by HAWC and coincident with the pulsar PSR J1928+1746, was not detected by any IACT despite their long exposure on the region, until a recent new analysis of H.E.S.S. data was able to confirm it. Moreover, no X-ray counterpart has been detected from this pulsar. We present a multicomponent fit of this region using the latest HAWC data. This reveals an additional new source, HAWC J1932+192, which is potentially associated with the pulsar PSR J1932+1916, whose γ -ray emission could come from the acceleration of particles in its pulsar wind nebula. In the case of 3HWC J1928+178, several possible explanations are explored, in an attempt to unveil the origins of the very-high-energy γ -ray emission. 

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