Karlsruhe 2011 – scientific programme
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T: Fachverband Teilchenphysik
T 91: Gammaastronomie V
T 91.4: Talk
Friday, April 1, 2011, 14:50–15:05, 30.41: 104
Monitoring of bright, nearby Active Galactic Nuclei with the MAGIC telescopes — •Michael Backes1, Elisa Bernardini2, Ching Cheng Hsu3,4, Konstancja Satalecka2, Burkhard Steinke3, Malwina Thom1, and Robert Wagner3 — 1Technische Universität Dortmund, 44221 Dortmund — 2DESY, Platanenallee 6, 15478 Zeuthen — 3Max-Planck Institut für Physik, Föhringer Ring 6, 80805 München — 4now at: NIKHEF, Science Park 105, 1098 XG Amsterdam
Observations and detections of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) by Cherenkov telescopes are often triggered by information about high flux states in other wavelength bands. To overcome this bias, the VHE γ-ray telescope MAGIC has conducted dedicated monitoring observations of nearby AGN since 2006. Three well established, TeV-bright blazars were selected to be observed regularly: Mrk 421, Mrk 501, and 1ES1959+650. The goals of these observations are to obtain an unbiased distribution of flux states shedding light on the duty cycle of AGN, to investigate potential spectral changes during periods of different source activity, and to correlate the results with multi-wavelength observations. Also clues on a potential periodic behavior of the sources might be drawn from a study on the obtained lightcurves. By testing predictions of theoretical models, like e.g. the correlation between the TeV flux level and the peak frequency predicted in SSC models, monitoring deepens our knowledge about the acceleration and emission processes in AGN. The status and results of the MAGIC AGN monitoring program will be presented.