Observation of gamma rays from the galactic center with the MAGIC telescope
Journal
The Astrophysical Journal Letters 638, L101, 2006
ticlealbert2006observation, title=Observation of gamma rays from the galactic center with the MAGIC telescope, author=Albert, J and Aliu, E and Anderhub, H and Antoranz, P and Armada, A and Asensio, M and Baixeras, C and Barrio, JA and Bartelt, M and Bart
Abstract:
Recently, the Galactic Center has been reported to be a source of very high energy (VHE) gamma-rays by the VERITAS, CANGAROO and HESS experiments. The energy spectra as measured by these experiments show substantial differences. In this Letter we present MAGIC observations of the Galactic Center, resulting in the detection of a differential gamma-ray flux consistent with a steady, hard-slope power law, described as dN/(dA dt dE) = (2.9+/-0.6)*10^{-12} (E/TeV)^{-2.2+/-0.2} cm^{-2}s^{-1}TeV^{-1}. The gamma-ray source is centered at (Ra, Dec)=(17h 45m 20s, -29deg 2'. This result confirms the previous measurements by the HESS experiment and indicates a steady source of TeV gamma-rays. We briefly describe the observational technique used, the procedure implemented for the data analysis, and discuss the results in the perspective of different models proposed for the acceleration of the VHE gamma-rays.