VERITAS Observations of the Galactic Center Ridge

TL;DR

This paper reports on VERITAS observations of the Galactic Center Ridge, revealing the most sensitive measurements of gamma-ray emission above 2 TeV in this complex region of the Milky Way.

Contribution

It presents extended VERITAS observations from 2010-2014, providing new insights into high-energy gamma-ray emission from the Galactic Center.

Findings

Detected gamma-ray emission above 2 TeV from the Galactic Center

Provided the most sensitive measurements of the region in the VHE band

Enhanced understanding of particle acceleration processes near Sgr A*

Abstract

Due to its extraordinarily high concentration of known relativistic particle accelerators such as pulsar wind nebula, supernova remnants, dense molecular cloud regions, and the supermassive black hole (Sgr A*); the center of the Milky Way galaxy has long been an ideal target for high energy (HE, 0.1-100 GeV) and very high energy ( VHE, 50 GeV-50 TeV) gamma-ray emission. Indeed, detections of Sgr A* and other nearby regions of gamma-ray emission have been reported by EGRET and Fermi-LAT in the HE band, as well as CANGAROO, Whipple, HESS, VERITAS, and MAGIC in the VHE band. Here we report on the results of extended observations of the region with VERITAS between 2010-2014. Due to the visibility of the source for VERITAS in the Northern Hemisphere, these observations provide the most sensitive probe of gamma-ray emission above 2 TeV in one of the most complicated and interesting regions of our home galaxy.