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.