Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope Observations of the Gamma-ray Outburst from 3C 454.3 in November 2010

• Main Author: Lott, B.
• Other Authors: Centre d'Etudes Nucléaires de Bordeaux Gradignan (CENBG), Université Sciences et Technologies - Bordeaux 1 (UB)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2011
• Subjects: [PHYS.ASTR.HE]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena [astro-ph.HE]; [SDU.ASTR.HE]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena [astro-ph.HE]; Muonio
• Online Access: https://hal.in2p3.fr/in2p3-00583695

International audience The flat-spectrum radio quasar 3C 454.3 underwent an extraordinary 5-day gamma-ray outburst in November 2010 where the daily flux measured with the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) at photon energies E>100 MeV reached (66+/-2) x 10^-6 ph cm^-2 s^-1. The 3-hr peak flux corresponded to an apparent isotropic luminosity of (2.1+/-0.2)x10^50 erg s^-1, the highest ever recorded from a blazar. In this talk we review the features of this exceptional event as measured by the Fermi LAT and discuss their implications.