Study of TeV variability of Mrk 421 from 3 years of monitoring with the Milagro Observatory

Abstract

The Milagro experiment was a TeV gamma-ray observatory designed to continuously monitor the overhead sky in the 0.1-100 TeV energy range. It operated from 2000 and 2008 and was characterized by a large field of view ($\sim$ 2 sr) and a high duty cycle ($\geq$ 90$\%$). Here we report on the long-term monitoring of the blazar Mrk 421 with Milagro over the period from September 21, 2005 to March 15, 2008. We present a study of the TeV variability of the source and provide upper limits for the measured flux for different time scales, ranging from one week up to one year.

3 pages, 2 figures. Paper to appear in the Proceedings of the Thirteen Marcel Grossmann Meeting, held in Stockholm, Sweden, on July 2012, World Scientific, Singapore, in press