Γ-ray emission from the Perseus cluster of galaxies observed with the MAGIC telescopes

MAGIC Collaboration

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The Perseus cluster of galaxies is a nearby cool-core cluster with an intra-clustermedium (ICM) characterized by very high central densities. The observation of the Perseus cluster with the MAGIC telescopes, during 85 h from 2009 to 2011, resulted in the discovery of 2 point-like sources at very high energy (>100 GeV, VHE) coinciding with the central radio galaxy NGC1275 and the radio galaxy IC310. The γ-ray properties of these 2 sources are presented, taking into account contemporaneous Fermi-LAT as well as multi-wavelength data. Flux variability and spectral energy distribution shapes indicate that the VHE γ-rays do not originate from large-scale interaction of the radio galaxies with ICM but more likely from the active nuclei of these two galaxies. They could be both misaligned version of BL Lac objects, the most common TeV AGN. Our results provide vital clues to understand emission mechanisms of such misaligned objects, and how they may be related to the beamed emission seen in BL Lacs. No evidence of large-scale VHE γ-ray emission from hadronic cosmic ray (CR) interactions with the ICM has been found. The flux upper limit above 1 TeV reaches the signal expected by some theoretical models, constraining the cluster CR physics. In the framework of the hadronicmodel of the radiomini-halos, this limit implies aminimal magnetic field ranging from 4-9μG for the central cluster region.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationHigh Energy Gamma-Ray Astronomy - 5th International Meeting on High Energy Gamma-Ray Astronomy
Pages578-581
Number of pages4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2012
Externally publishedYes
Event5th International Meeting on High Energy Gamma-Ray Astronomy - Heidelberg, Germany
Duration: 2012 Jul 92012 Jul 13

Publication series

NameAIP Conference Proceedings
Volume1505
ISSN (Print)0094-243X
ISSN (Electronic)1551-7616

Conference

Conference5th International Meeting on High Energy Gamma-Ray Astronomy
Country/TerritoryGermany
CityHeidelberg
Period12/7/912/7/13

Keywords

  • Cosmic rays
  • Galaxy Cluster
  • IC 310
  • NGC 1275
  • Radio galaxy
  • γ-ray astronomy

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Physics and Astronomy(all)

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