The Crab Nebula Spectrum at ~100 TeV Measured with MAGIC under Very Large Zenith Angles

TL;DR

This paper reports on MAGIC telescope observations of the Crab Nebula at very large zenith angles, extending its spectral measurements to around 100 TeV and exploring potential spectral cut-offs.

Contribution

It introduces the use of Very Large Zenith Angle observations with MAGIC to measure the Crab Nebula spectrum up to ~100 TeV, enhancing high-energy gamma-ray detection capabilities.

Findings

Extended the Crab Nebula spectrum measurement up to ~100 TeV

Demonstrated increased collection area at very large zenith angles

Provided data to investigate spectral cut-offs at tens of TeV

Abstract

The Crab Nebula was discovered as the first very-high-energy gamma-ray source by the Whipple Observatory in 1989. Thirty years after its discovery it is still the reference source and the standard candle for Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs). Its spectrum has been measured from the cm radio band to energies up to tens of TeV. Some studies reported a possible but still debated cut-off in its spectrum at few tens of TeV. The MAGIC collaboration is currently investigating the spectrum of the Crab Nebula by using the Very Large Zenith Angle observation technique. The latter provides a significantly increased collection area for energies above 10 TeV. The details of these MAGIC observations will be presented.