70 research outputs found
First bounds on the very high energy gamma-ray emission from Arp 220
Using the Major Atmospheric Gamma Imaging Cherenkov Telescope (MAGIC), we
have observed the nearest ultra-luminous infrared galaxy Arp 220 for about 15
hours. No significant signal was detected within the dedicated amount of
observation time. The first upper limits to the very high energy -ray
flux of Arp 220 are herein reported and compared with theoretical expectations.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap
Constraints on the steady and pulsed very high energy gamma-ray emission from observations of PSR B1951+32/CTB 80 with the MAGIC Telescope
We report on very high energy gamma-observations with the MAGIC Telescope of
the pulsar PSR B1951+32 and its associated nebula, CTB 80. Our data constrain
the cutoff energy of the pulsar to be less than 32 GeV, assuming the pulsed
gamma-ray emission to be exponentially cut off. The upper limit on the flux of
pulsed gamma-ray emission above 75 GeV is 4.3*10^-11 photons cm^-2 sec^-1, and
the upper limit on the flux of steady emission above 140 GeV is 1.5*10^-11
photons cm^-2 sec^-1. We discuss our results in the framework of recent model
predictions and other studies.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, replaced with published versio
MAGIC observations of very high energy gamma-rays from HESS J1813-178
Recently, the HESS collaboration has reported the detection of gamma-ray
emission above a few hundred GeV from eight new sources located close to the
Galactic Plane. The source HESS J1813-178 has sparked particular interest, as
subsequent radio observations imply an association with SNR G12.82-0.02.
Triggered by the detection in VHE gamma-rays, a positionally coincident source
has also been found in INTEGRAL and ASCA data. In this Letter we present MAGIC
observations of HESS J1813-178, resulting in the detection of a differential
gamma-ray flux consistent with a hard-slope power law, described as dN/(dA dt
dE) = (3.3+/-0.5)*10^{-12} (E/TeV)^{-2.1+/-0.2} cm^(-2)s^(-1)TeV^(-1). We
briefly discuss the observational technique used, the procedure implemented for
the data analysis, and put this detection in the perspective of multifrequency
observations.Comment: Accepted by ApJ Letter
MAGIC upper limits on the very high energy emission from GRBs
The fast repositioning system of the MAGIC Telescope has allowed during its
first data cycle, between 2005 and the beginning of year 2006, observing nine
different GRBs as possible sources of very high energy gammas. These
observations were triggered by alerts from Swift, HETE-II, and Integral; they
started as fast as possible after the alerts and lasted for several minutes,
with an energy threshold varying between 80 and 200 GeV, depending upon the
zenith angle of the burst. No evidence for gamma signals was found, and upper
limits for the flux were derived for all events, using the standard analysis
chain of MAGIC. For the bursts with measured redshift, the upper limits are
compatible with a power law extrapolation, when the intrinsic fluxes are
evaluated taking into account the attenuation due to the scattering in the
Metagalactic Radiation Field (MRF).Comment: 25 pages, 9 figures, final version accepted by ApJ. Changet title to
"MAGIC upped limits on the VERY high energy emission from GRBs", re-organized
chapter with description of observation, removed non necessaries figures,
added plot of effective area depending on zenith angle, added an appendix
explaining the upper limit calculation, added some reference
Upper limit for gamma-ray emission above 140 GeV from the dwarf spheroidal galaxy Draco
The nearby dwarf spheroidal galaxy Draco with its high mass to light ratio is
one of the most auspicious targets for indirect dark matter searches.
Annihilation of hypothetical DM particles can result in high-energy gamma-rays,
e.g. from neutralino annihilation in the supersymmetric framework. With the
MAGIC telescope a search for a possible DM signal originating from Draco was
performed during 2007. The analysis of the data results in a flux upper limit
of 1.1x10^-11 photons cm^-2 sec^-1 for photon energies above 140 GeV, assuming
a point like source. Furthermore, a comparison with predictions from
supersymmetric models is given. While our results do not constrain the mSUGRA
phase parameter space, a very high flux enhancement can be ruled out.Comment: Accepted for publication by Astrophysical Journa
Observation of Pulsed Gamma-rays Above 25 GeV from the Crab Pulsar with MAGIC
One fundamental question about pulsars concerns the mechanism of their pulsed
electromagnetic emission. Measuring the high-end region of a pulsar's spectrum
would shed light on this question. By developing a new electronic trigger, we
lowered the threshold of the Major Atmospheric gamma-ray Imaging Cherenkov
(MAGIC) telescope to 25 GeV. In this configuration, we detected pulsed
gamma-rays from the Crab pulsar that were greater than 25 GeV, revealing a
relatively high cutoff energy in the phase-averaged spectrum. This indicates
that the emission occurs far out in the magnetosphere, hence excluding the
polar-cap scenario as a possible explanation of our measurement. The high
cutoff energy also challenges the slot-gap scenario.Comment: Slight modification of the analysis: Fitting a more general function
to the combined data set of COMPTEL, EGRET and MAGIC. Final result and
conclusion is unchange
First bounds on the high-energy emission from isolated Wolf-Rayet binary systems
High-energy gamma-ray emission is theoretically expected to arise in tight
binary star systems (with high mass loss and high velocity winds), although the
evidence of this relationship has proven to be elusive so far. Here we present
the first bounds on this putative emission from isolated Wolf-Rayet (WR) star
binaries, WR 147 and WR 146, obtained from observations with the MAGIC
telescope.Comment: (Authors are the MAGIC Collaboration.) Manuscript in press at The
Astrophysical Journal Letter
- …