TeV gamma-ray observations of the galactic center

K. Kosack, H. M. Badran, I. H. Bond, P. J. Boyle, S. M. Bradbury, J. H. Buckley, D. A. Carter-Lewis, O. Celik, V. Connaughton, W. Cui, M. Daniel, M. D'Vali, I. De La Calle Perez, C. Duke, A. Falcone, D. J. Fegan, S. J. Fegan, J. P. Finley, L. F. Fortson, J. A. GaidosS. Gammell, K. Gibbs, G. H. Gillanders, J. Grube, K. Gutierrez, J. Hall, T. A. Hall, D. Hanna, A. M. Hillas, J. Holder, D. Horan, A. Jarvis, M. Jordan, G. E. Kenny, M. Kertzman, D. Kieda, J. Kildea, J. Knapp, H. Krawczynski, F. Krennrich, M. J. Lang, S. Le Bohec, E. Linton, J. Lloyd-Evans, A. Milovanovic, J. McEnery, P. Moriarty, D. Muller, T. Nagai, S. Nolan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

193 Scopus citations

Abstract

We report a possible detection of TeV gamma rays from the Galactic center by the Whipple 10 m gamma-ray telescope. Twenty-six hours of data were taken over an extended period from 1995 through 2003 resulting in a total significance of 3.7 σ. The measured excess corresponds to an integral flux of 1.6 × 10-8 ± 0.5 × 10-8 (stat) ± 0.3 × 10-8 (sys) photons m-2 s-1 above an energy of 2.8 TeV, roughly 40% of the flux from the Crab Nebula at this energy. The 95% confidence region has an angular extent of about 15′ and includes the position of Sgr A*. The detection is consistent with a point source and shows no evidence of variability.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)L97-L100
JournalAstrophysical Journal
Volume608
Issue number2 II
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 20 2004

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We would like to acknowledge Fulvio Melia, Paolo Gondolo, Jonathan Katz, and Ramanath Cowsik for useful discussions. The VERITAS Collaboration is supported by the US Department of Energy, NSF, the Smithsonian Institution, PPARC (UK), NSERC (Canada), and Enterprise-Ireland.

Keywords

  • Dark matter
  • Galaxy: center
  • Galaxy: nucleus
  • Gamma rays: observations

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