We report on variability and correlation studies using multiwavelength
observations of the blazar Mrk 421 during the month of 2010 February,
when an extraordinary flare reaching a level of ˜27 Crab Units
above 1 TeV was measured in very high energy (VHE) γ-rays with the
Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS)
observatory. This is the highest flux state for Mrk 421 ever observed in
VHE γ-rays. Data are analyzed from a coordinated campaign across
multiple instruments, including VHE γ-ray (VERITAS, Major
Atmospheric Gamma-ray Imaging Cherenkov), high-energy γ-ray
(Fermi-LAT), X-ray (Swift, Rossi X-ray Timing Experiment, MAXI), optical
(including the GASP-WEBT collaboration and polarization data), and radio
(Metsähovi, Owens Valley Radio Observatory, University of Michigan
Radio Astronomy Observatory). Light curves are produced spanning
multiple days before and after the peak of the VHE flare, including over
several flare "decline" epochs. The main flare statistics allow 2 minute
time bins to be constructed in both the VHE and optical bands enabling a
cross-correlation analysis that shows evidence for an optical lag of
˜25–55 minutes, the first time-lagged correlation between
these bands reported on such short timescales. Limits on the Doppler
factor (δ ≳ 33) and the size of the emission region (
${\delta }^{-1}{R}_{B}\lesssim 3.8\times {10}^{13}\,{\rm{cm}}$ ) are
obtained from the fast variability observed by VERITAS during the main
flare. Analysis of 10 minute binned VHE and X-ray data over the decline
epochs shows an extraordinary range of behavior in the flux–flux
relationship, from linear to quadratic to lack of correlation to
anticorrelation. Taken together, these detailed observations of an
unprecedented flare seen in Mrk 421 are difficult to explain with the
classic single-zone synchrotron self-Compton model.