PKS 1502+106: a new and distant gamma-ray blazar in outburst discovered by the Fermi Large Area Telescope

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery and multi-wavelength characterization of PKS 1502+106, a distant gamma-ray blazar that exhibited a rapid outburst detected by Fermi LAT, with follow-up observations across various telescopes.

Contribution

It presents the first detection of a gamma-ray outburst from PKS 1502+106 and provides a comprehensive multi-frequency analysis of this distant blazar.

Findings

Detected a rapid gamma-ray outburst lasting about 5 days.

Multi-wavelength observations confirm the blazar's variable emission across the spectrum.

Identified PKS 1502+106 as a new gamma-ray blazar at z=1.839.

Abstract

The Large Area Telescope (LAT) on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope discovered a rapid (about 5 days duration), high-energy (E >100 MeV) gamma-ray outburst from a source identified with the blazar PKS 1502+106 (OR 103, S3 1502+10, z=1.839) starting on August 05, 2008 and followed by bright and variable flux over the next few months. Results on the gamma-ray localization and identification, as well as spectral and temporal behavior during the first months of the Fermi all-sky survey are reported here in conjunction with a multi-waveband characterization as a result of one of the first Fermi multi-frequency campaigns. The campaign included a Swift ToO (followed up by 16-day observations on August 07-22, MJD 54685-54700), VLBA (within the MOJAVE program), Owens Valley (OVRO) 40m, Effelsberg-100m, Metsahovi-14m, RATAN-600 and Kanata-Hiroshima radio/optical observations. Results from the analysis of archival observations by INTEGRAL, XMM-Newton and Spitzer space telescopes are reported for a more complete picture of this new gamma-ray blazar.