Detection of very-high energy gamma-ray emission from NGC 1275 by the MAGIC telescopes

Abstract

We report on the detection of very-high energy (VHE, E > 100 GeV) gamma-ray emission from NGC 1275, the central radio galaxy of the Perseus cluster of galaxies. The source has been detected by the MAGIC telescopes with a statistical significance of 6.6s above 100 GeV in 46 h of stereo observations carried out between August 2010 and February 2011. The measured differential energy spectrum between 70 GeV and 500 GeV can be described by a power law with a steep spectral index of Gamma = -4.1 +/- 0.7(stat) +/- 0.3(syst), and the average flux above 100 GeV is F-gamma = (1.3 +/- 0.2(stat) +/- 0.3(syst)) x 10(-11) cm(-2) s(-1). These results, combined with the power-law spectrum measured in the first two years of observations by the Fermi-LAT above 100 MeV, with a spectral index of Gamma similar or equal to -2.1, strongly suggest the presence of a break or cut-off around tens of GeV in the NGC 1275 spectrum. The light curve of the source above 100 GeV does not show hints of variability on a month time scale. Finally, we report on the nondetection in the present data of the radio galaxy IC 310, previously discovered by the Fermi-LAT and MAGIC. The derived flux upper limit F-gamma(U.L.) (> 300 GeV) = 1.2 x 10(-12) cm(-2) s(-1) is a factor similar to 3 lower than the mean flux measured by MAGIC between October 2009 and February 2010, thus confirming the year time-scale variability of the source at VHE.