VERITAS Upper Limit on the Very High Energy Emission from the Radio Galaxy NGC 1275

• Published in: The Astrophysical journal Vol. 706; no. 2; pp. L275 - L280
• Main Authors: Acciari, V. A, Aliu, E, Arlen, T, Aune, T, Bautista, M, Beilicke, M, Benbow, W, Boltuch, D, Bradbury, S. M, Buckley, J. H, Bugaev, V, Byrum, K, Cannon, A, Celik, O, Cesarini, A, Ciupik, L, Cogan, P, Cui, W, Dickherber, R, Duke, C, Fegan, S. J, Finley, J. P, Fortin, P, Fortson, L, Furniss, A, Galante, N, Gall, D, Gibbs, K, Gillanders, G. H, Godambe, S, Grube, J, Guenette, R, Gyuk, G, Hanna, D, Holder, J, Horan, D, Hui, C. M, Humensky, T. B, Imran, A, Kaaret, P, Karlsson, N, Kertzman, M, Kieda, D, Konopelko, A, Krawczynski, H, Krennrich, F, Lang, M. J, LeBohec, S, Maier, G, McCann, A, McCutcheon, M, Millis, J, Moriarty, P, Mukherjee, R, Ong, R. A, Otte, A. N, Pandel, D, Perkins, J. S, Pohl, M, Quinn, J, Ragan, K, Reynolds, P. T, Roache, E, Rose, H. J, Schroedter, M, Sembroski, G. H, Smith, A. W, Steele, D, Swordy, S. P, Theiling, M, Toner, J. A, Varlotta, A, Vassiliev, V. V, Vincent, S, Wagner, R. G, Wakely, S. P, Ward, J. E, Weekes, T. C, Weinstein, A, Weisgarber, T, Williams, D. A, Wissel, S, Wood, M, Zitzer, B, Kataoka, J, Cavazzuti, E, Cheung, C. C, Lott, B, Thompson, D. J, Tosti, G
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States IOP Publishing 01-12-2009; Institute of Physics (IOP)
• Subjects: ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; galaxies: individual (NGC 1275, 3C 84, Perseus A); galaxies: Seyfert; gamma rays: observations
• ISSN: 1538-4357; 0004-637X; 1538-4357
• DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/706/2/L275

We report the recent detection by the Fermi γ-ray space telescope of high-energy γ-rays from the radio galaxy NGC 1275 that makes the observation of the very high energy (VHE: E>100 GeV) part of its broadband spectrum particularly interesting, especially for the understanding of active galactic nuclei with misaligned multi-structured jets. The radio galaxy NGC 1275 was recently observed by VERITAS at energies above 100 GeV for about 8 hr. No VHE γ-ray emission was detected by VERITAS from NGC 1275. Finally, a 99% confidence level upper limit of 2.1% of the Crab Nebula flux level is obtained at the decorrelation energy of approximately 340 GeV, corresponding to 19% of the power-law extrapolation of the Fermi Large Area Telescope result.