The hard TeV spectrum of 1ES 0229+200: new clues from Swift
  The BL Lac object 1ES 0229+200 (z=0.14) has been detected by HESS during
observations taking place in 2005-2006. The TeV spectrum, when corrected for
the absorption of gamma-ray photons through the interaction with the
extragalactic background light, is extremely hard, even if the most
conservative level for the background is considered. The case of 1ES 0229+200
is very similar to that of 1ES 1101-232, for which a possible explanation, in
the framework of the standard one-zone synchrotron-self Compton model, is that
the high-energy emission is synchrotron-self Compton radiation of electrons
distributed as a power law with a large value of the minimum energy. In this
scenario the hard TeV spectrum is accompanied by a very hard synchrotron
continuum below the soft X-ray band. We will show that recent Swift
observations of 1ES 0229+200 in the critical UV-X-ray band strongly support
this model, showing the presence of the expected spectral break and hard
continuum between the UV and the X-ray bands.
