MAGIC Observations of Very High Energy γ-Rays from HESS J1813-178

Abstract

Recently, the HESS collaboration has reported the detection of γ-ray emission above a few hundred GeV from eight new sources located close to the Galactic plane. The source HESS J1813-178 has sparked particular interest, as subsequent radio observations imply an association with supernova remnant G12.82-0.02. Triggered by the detection in very high energy γ-rays, a positionally coincident source has also been found in INTEGRAL and ASCA data. In this Letter we present MAGIC observations of HESS J1813-178, resulting in the detection of a differential γ-ray flux consistent with a hard-slope power law, described as dNγ/(dA dt dE) = (3.3 ± 0.5) × 10-12(E/TeV)-2.1±0.2 cm-2s -1TeV-1. We briefly discuss the observational technique used and the procedure implemented for the data analysis, and we put this detection in the perspective of multifrequency observations. © 2006, The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.