MAGIC observations of the February 2014 flare of 1ES 1011+496 and ensuing constraint of the EBL density

TL;DR

This study used MAGIC telescope observations of a bright flare from 1ES 1011+496 to constrain the density of the Extragalactic Background Light by analyzing the gamma-ray spectrum and comparing it with EBL models.

Contribution

First time to analyze a high-flux flare from 1ES 1011+496 to place constraints on EBL density using VHE gamma-ray data.

Findings

EBL density constrained to 1.07(-0.20,+0.24) times the model

Detected EBL imprint at 4.6 sigma significance

Estimated EBL peak at 1.4 micrometers with 12.27 nW m^{-2} sr^{-1}

Abstract

In February-March 2014, the MAGIC telescopes observed the high-frequency peaked BL Lac 1ES 1011+496 (z=0.212) in flaring state at very-high energy (VHE, E>100GeV). The flux reached a level more than 10 times higher than any previously recorded flaring state of the source. We present the description of the characteristics of the flare presenting the light curve and the spectral parameters of the night-wise spectra and the average spectrum of the whole period. From these data we aim at detecting the imprint of the Extragalactic Background Light (EBL) in the VHE spectrum of the source, in order to constrain its intensity in the optical band. For this we implement the method developed by the H.E.S.S. collaboration in which the intrinsic energy spectrum of the source is modeled with a simple function, and the EBL-induced optical depth is calculated using a template EBL model. The likelihood of the observed spectrum is then maximized, including a normalization factor for the EBL opacity among the free parameters. From the data collected differential energy spectra was produced for all nights of the observed period. Evaluating the changes in the fit parameters we conclude that the spectral shape for most of the nights were compatible, regardless of the flux level, which enabled us to produce an average spectrum from which the EBL imprint could be constrained. The likelihood ratio test shows that the model with an EBL density 1.07(-0.20,+0.24)_{stat+sys}, relative to the one in the tested EBL template (Dominguez et al.2011), is preferred at the 4.6 sigma level to the no-EBL hypothesis, with the assumption that the intrinsic source spectrum can be modeled as a log-parabola. This would translate into a constraint of the EBL density in the wavelength range [0.24 um,4.25 um], with a peak value at 1.4 um of F=12.27_{-2.29}^{+2.75} nW m^{-2} sr^{-1}, including systematics.