MULTIWAVELENGTH OBSERVATIONS OF A TeV-FLARE FROM W COMAE

Abstract

We report results from an intensive multiwavelength campaign on the\nintermediate-frequency-peaked BL Lacertae object W Com (z=0.102) during a\nstrong outburst of very high energy gamma-ray emission in June 2008. The very\nhigh energy gamma-ray signal was detected by VERITAS on 2008 June 7-8 with a\nflux F(>200 GeV) = (5.7+-0.6)x10^-11 cm-2s-1, about three times brighter than\nduring the discovery of gamma-ray emission from W Com by VERITAS in 2008 March.\nThe initial detection of this flare by VERITAS at energies above 200 GeV was\nfollowed by observations in high energy gamma-rays (AGILE, E>100 MeV), and\nX-rays (Swift and XMM-Newton), and at UV, and ground-based optical and radio\nmonitoring through the GASP-WEBT consortium and other observatories. Here we\ndescribe the multiwavelength data and derive the spectral energy distribution\n(SED) of the source from contemporaneous data taken throughout the flare.\n