Fermi LARGE AREA TELESCOPE OBSERVATIONS OF BLAZAR 3C 279 OCCULTATIONS BY THE SUN

BARBIELLINI AMIDEI, Guido; Bastieri, D.; Bechtol, K.; Bellazzini, R.; Blandford, R. D.; Borgland, A. W.; Bregeon, J.; Bruel, P.; Buehler, R.; Buson, S.; Caliandro, G. A.; Cameron, R. A.; Caraveo, P. A.; Cavazzuti, E.; Cecchi, C.; Chaves, R. C. G.; Chekhtman, A.; Cheung, C. C.; Chiang, J.; Ciprini, S.; Claus, R.; Cohen Tanugi, J.; D'Ammando, F.; de Angelis, A.; Dermer, C. D.; Digel, S. W.; Silva, E. do Couto e.; Drell, P. S.; Drlica Wagner, A.; Favuzzi, C.; Focke, W. B.; Franckowiak, A.; Fukazawa, Y.; Fusco, P.; Gargano, F.; Gasparrini, D.; Germani, S.; Giglietto, N.; Giommi, P.; Giordano, F.; Giroletti, M.; Glanzman, T.; Godfrey, G.; Grenier, I. A.; Grove, J. E.; Guiriec, S.; Hadasch, D.; Hayashida, M.; Hays, E.; Hughes, R. E.; Jackson, M. S.; Jogler, T.; Knödlseder, J.; Kuss, M.; Lande, J.; Larsson, S.; Longo, Francesco; Loparco, F.; Lovellette, M. N.; Lubrano, P.; Mazziotta, M. N.; Mehault, J.; Michelson, P. F.; Mizuno, T.; Moiseev, A. A.; Monte, C.; Monzani, M. E.; Morselli, A.; Moskalenko, I. V.; Murgia, S.; Nemmen, R.; Nuss, E.; Ohsugi, T.; Omodei, N.; Orienti, M.; Orlando, E.; Paneque, D.; Perkins, J. S.; Piron, F.; Pivato, G.; Prokhorov, D.; Rainò, S.; Razzano, M.; Razzaque, S.; Reimer, A.; Reimer, O.; Ritz, S.; Romoli, C.; Sánchez Conde, M.; Sanchez, D. A.; Sgrò, C.; Siskind, E. J.; Spandre, G.; Spinelli, P.; Takahashi, H.; Tanaka, T.; Tibaldo, L.; Tinivella, M.; Tosti, G.; Troja, E.; Usher, T. L.; Vandenbroucke, J.; Vasileiou, V.; Vianello, G.; Vitale, V.; Waite, A. P.; Winer, B. L.; Wood, K. S.; Yang, Z.

doi:10.1088/0004-637X/784/2/118

Observations of occultations of bright γ-ray sources by the Sun may reveal predicted pair halos around blazars and/or new physics, such as, e.g., hypothetical light dark matter particles—axions. We use Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope (Fermi) data to analyze four occultations of blazar 3C 279 by the Sun on October 8 each year from 2008 to 2011. A combined analysis of the observations of these occultations allows a point-like source at the position of 3C 279 to be detected with significance of ≈3σ, but does not reveal any significant excess over the flux expected from the quiescent Sun. The likelihood ratio test rules out complete transparency of the Sun to the blazar γ-ray emission at a 3σ confidence level.