The Firm Redshift Lower Limit of the Most Distant TeV-Detected Blazar PKS 1424+240

TL;DR

This paper establishes a lower redshift limit for the blazar PKS 1424+240 using ultraviolet absorption features, and analyzes its very-high-energy gamma-ray spectrum to understand extragalactic background light effects and spectral properties.

Contribution

It provides the first spectroscopic redshift lower limit for PKS 1424+240 and examines the implications for gamma-ray opacity and spectral modeling at high energies.

Findings

Redshift lower limit z>0.6035 established from UV spectra.

VHE gamma-ray observations sample large gamma-ray opacity values.

Spectral analysis suggests possible overestimation of gamma-ray opacity or new spectral features.

Abstract

We present the redshift lower limit of z>0.6035 for the very-high-energy (VHE; E>100 GeV) emitting blazar PKS 1424+240 (PG 1424+240). This limit is inferred from Lyman beta and gamma absorption observed in the far-ultraviolet spectra from the Hubble Space Telescope/Cosmic Origins Spectrograph. No VHE-detected blazar has shown solid spectroscopic evidence of being more distant. At this distance, VHE observations by VERITAS are shown to sample historically large gamma-ray opacity values at 500 GeV, extending beyond tau=4 for low-level models of the extragalactic background light (EBL) and beyond tau=5 for high-levels. The majority of the z=0.6035 absorption-corrected VHE spectrum appears to exhibit a lower flux than an extrapolation of the contemporaneous LAT power-law fit beyond 100 GeV. However, the highest energy VERITAS point is the only point showing agreement with this extrapolation, possibly implying the overestimation of the gamma-ray opacity or the onset of an unexpected VHE spectral feature. A curved log parabola is favored when fitting the full range of gamma-ray data (0.5 to 500 GeV). While fitting the absorption-corrected VHE data alone results in a harder differential power law than that from the full range, the indices derived using three EBL models are consistent with the physically motivated limit set by Fermi acceleration processes.