📝 SummarXiv

Abstract

PKS 2155-304 is a well-known high-frequency peaked BL Lac (HBL) at redshift z=0.116, which has been extensively studied across the electromagnetic spectrum due to its rapid and large-amplitude variability. Several violent outbursts in X-rays and $\gamma$-rays have been observed in the past, with intra-night variability in very-high-energy $\gamma$-rays (VHE; E > 100 GeV) detected down to the minute timescale. The alternation of quiescent and enhanced states, observed with a tentative quasi-periodicity of 1.74 $\pm$ 0.13 years in high-energy (HE; 100 MeV < E < 100 GeV) $\gamma$-rays, makes this source a key target also for ground-based $\gamma$-ray instruments and in particular for the Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes. Its brightness, proximity, and well-determined redshift make this $\gamma$-ray source a prime target for fundamental physics studies, including tests of Lorentz Invariance Violation (LIV), searches for axion-like particles (ALPs), and constraints on the distribution of the extragalactic background light (EBL). In the last two years, PKS 2155-304 has been independently monitored by the Major Atmospheric Gamma-ray Imaging Cherenkov (MAGIC) telescopes and the first Large-Sized Telescope (LST-1) of the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO) located at the Roque de Los Muchachos Observatory (La Palma, Spain). The observations were carried out at large zenith angles (LZA; ZA > 55{\deg}), and the VHE data have been complemented with simultaneous observations in HE $\gamma$-rays (Fermi-LAT), X-rays (Swift-XRT) and optical wavelengths (ASAS-SN).