Fermi LAT Detection of a Gamma-ray Flare from the FSRQ PMN J1703-6212
ATel #7330; Roopesh Ojha (NASA/GSFC/UMBC) and Bryce Carpenter (CUA/NASA/GSFC) on behalf of the Fermi Large Area Telescope Collaboration
on 31 Mar 2015; 19:39 UT
Credential Certification: Roopesh Ojha (Roopesh.Ojha@gmail.com)
Subjects: Gamma Ray, >GeV, AGN, Blazar, Quasar
Referred to by ATel #: 7369
The Large Area Telescope (LAT) on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space
Telescope has observed increasing gamma-ray flux from a source
positionally consistent with the flat spectrum radio quasar (FSRQ) PMN
J1703-6212 (RA: 255.9022550 deg, Dec: -62.2111133 deg, J2000, Fey et al.,
2004, AJ, 127, 1791) at z = 1.755 (Titov et al., 2011, AJ, 142,
165). The position of this object is consistent with (within the 95%
confidence contour of) 3EG J1659-6251, which was not noted as an AGN
in 3EG (The Third EGRET Catalog; Hartman et al., 1999, ApJS, 123, 79).
Preliminary analysis indicates that on Mar 29, 2015, the daily
averaged flux (E>100MeV) was (0.9 +/- 0.3) x 10^-6 photons cm^-2 s^-1
(errors are statistical only), which is the highest ever recorded for
this source and is about 11 times its average flux in the 3FGL catalog
(3FGL J1703.6?6211; Acero et al. 2015, arXiv:1501.02003).
Because Fermi operates in an all-sky scanning mode, regular gamma-ray
monitoring of this source will continue. We encourage further
multifrequency observations of this source. For this source the Fermi
LAT contact person is Roopesh Ojha (Roopesh.Ojha@gmail.com).
The Fermi LAT is a pair conversion telescope designed to cover the
energy band from 20 MeV to greater than 300 GeV. It is the product of
an international collaboration between NASA and DOE in the U.S. and
many scientific institutions across France, Italy, Japan and Sweden.
