The Exceptional Flare of Mrk 501 in 2014: Combined Observations with H.E.S.S. and FACT

TL;DR

This paper reports on the 2014 exceptional gamma-ray flare of Mrk 501 observed with H.E.S.S. and FACT, providing new insights into the source's emission, spectrum, and implications for fundamental physics.

Contribution

It presents the first combined analysis of H.E.S.S. and FACT data during a major flare, enhancing source characterization and constraining Lorentz invariance violation.

Findings

Detected a flare with flux comparable to 1997 maximum

Compared H.E.S.S. and FACT lightcurves for the first time

Derived constraints on Lorentz invariance violation from the spectrum

Abstract

The BL Lac type object Mrk 501 was observed at very high energies (E > 100 GeV) in 2014 with the upgraded H.E.S.S. (High Energy Stereoscopic System) phase 2 array. The data collected with the central 28m telescope allow for a broader energy range extending to lower energies when compared to the one obtained with the four small telescopes alone. A strong flaring event with a flux level comparable to the 1997 historical maximum has been detected as a consequence of target of opportunity observations triggered by alerts from the FACT collaboration. The First G-APD Cherenkov Telescope (FACT) is continuously monitoring bright blazars at TeV energies providing important pre- and post-flare information. For the first time, the data and lightcurves from H.E.S.S. and FACT are compared. These contemporaneous observations allow for a better characterization of the source emission. In a multiwavelength context, more precise correlation studies between VHE and lower energies are possible thanks to the dense sampling of the FACT observations. The hard intrinsic spectrum detected by H.E.S.S. during the flare allows the derivation of strong constraints on the scale of Lorentz invariance violation via the non-detection of EBL opacity modifications and from time-of-flight studies.