AGILE detection of a gamma-ray flare from the FSRQ PKS 2023-07
ATel #8879; G. Piano (INAF/IAPS), A. Bulgarelli (INAF/IASF-Bo), M. Tavani (INAF/IAPS, and Univ. Roma Tor Vergata), I. Donnarumma (INAF/IAPS), C. Pittori, F. Verrecchia, F. Lucarelli (ASDC and INAF/OAR), V. Fioretti, A. Zoli (INAF/IASF-Bo), S. Vercellone (INAF/IASF-Pa), E. Striani (CIFS and INAF/IAPS), M. Cardillo (INAF/OA-Arcetri and INAF/IAPS), F. Gianotti, M. Trifoglio (INAF/IASF-Bo), A. Giuliani, S. Mereghetti, P. Caraveo, F. Perotti (INAF/IASF-Mi), A. Chen (Wits University), A. Argan, E. Costa, E. Del Monte, Y. Evangelista, M. Feroci, F. Lazzarotto, I. Lapshov, L. Pacciani, P. Soffitta, S. Sabatini, V. Vittorini (INAF/IAPS), G. Pucella, M. Rapisarda (ENEA-Frascati), G. Di Cocco, F. Fuschino, M. Galli, C. Labanti, M. Marisaldi (INAF/IASF-Bo), A. Pellizzoni, M. Pilia, A. Trois (INAF/OA-Cagliari), G. Barbiellini, E. Vallazza (INFN Trieste), F. Longo (Univ. Trieste and INFN Trieste), A. Morselli, P. Picozza (INFN and Univ. Roma Tor Vergata), M. Prest (Univ. dell'Insubria), P. Lipari, D. Zanello (INFN and Univ. Roma Sapienza), P. W. Cattaneo, A. Rappoldi (INFN Pavia), S. Colafrancesco (INAF/OAR and Wits University), N. Parmiggiani (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia), A. Ferrari (Univ. Torino and CIFS), A. Antonelli (ASDC and INAF/OAR), P. Giommi (ASDC), L. Salotti, G. Valentini, and F. D'Amico (ASI)
on 28 Mar 2016; 11:41 UT
Credential Certification: Giovanni Piano (giovanni.piano@iaps.inaf.it)
Subjects: Gamma Ray, >GeV, AGN, Blazar, Quasar, Transient
The AGILE satellite is detecting flaring gamma-ray activity above 100 MeV from a source positionally consistent with the flat spectrum radio quasar PKS 2023-07 (z=1.388, Drinkwater et al. 1997, MNRAS, 284, 85).
Integrating from 2016-03-25 12:00 UT to 2016-03-27 12:00 UT, a preliminary maximum likelihood analysis yields the detection of the source with a flux of (2.3 +/- 0.8) 10^-6 photons/cm^2/s (E > 100 MeV) at a significance above 5 sigma.
PKS 2023-07 was detected as a gamma-ray source by EGRET (3EG J2025-0744) and Fermi-LAT (3FGL J2025.6-0736).
The detection of a GeV flare from PKS 2023-07 was reported by Fermi-LAT in August 2009 (ATel #2175).
This measurement was obtained with AGILE observing a large portion of the sky in spinning mode. Multifrequency observations of the source are strongly encouraged.
