Name of the Speaker(s): David J. Fegan
Institution: Physics Department, University College Dublin
Title of the communication: Dramatic Outbursts of TeV photons from Markarian 421
Preliminary abstract (12 lines max.):
In its relatively quiescent state, the TeV flux of gamma rays from Mrk421 is about 0.5 gammas per minute above an energy threshold of 0.35 TeV. On May 7th 1996 a dramatic flare was observed whereby the flux increased by a factor of thirty at the peak becoming, for a duration of two hours, the brightest TeV gamma ray source ever observed. A second flare of lesser intensity was observed on May 15th 1996 with duration less than one hour. The highly Doppler boosted outbursts are indicative of very compact emissionn regions perhaps smaller than the solar system.