Observation of gamma rays from the galactic center with the MAGIC telescope

Abstract

Recently, the Galactic center has been reported to be a source of very high energy (VHE) gamma-rays by the CANGAROO, VERITAS, 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 gamma/(dA dt dE) = (2.9 +/- 0.6) x 10(-12) (E/TeV)-2.2 +/- 0.2 cm(-2) s(-1) TeV-1. The gamma-ray source is centered at (R.A., decl.) p (17(h)45(m)20(s), -29 degrees 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 and the procedure implemented for the data analysis, and we discuss the results in the perspective of different models proposed for the acceleration of the VHE gamma-rays.