New Insights into Blazar Astrophysics and the Future of Ground-Based TeV Gamma-Ray Astronomy

by Dr Robert Wagner (Stockholm University)

Tuesday 30 Mar 2010, 13:15 → 14:15 Europe/Stockholm

FA32

The MAGIC (Major Atmospheric Gamma Imaging Cherenkov) telescope currently is a stereoscopic Cherenkov telescope system and has the lowest energy threshold (approx. 55 GeV) among the ground-based gamma-ray observatories. The 14 active galactic nuclei (AGNs) detected by MAGIC so far in the >100 GeV energy range include well-known bright blazars like Mkn 421 and Mkn 501, but also prominent AGNs such as BL Lac, the giant radio galaxy M 87, and the distant flat-spectrum radio quasar 3C 279. In my colloquium I will discuss the new insights that we were able to gain from the observation of some of the MAGIC-detected AGNs, pertaining to particle acceleration mechanisms, and the location of the gamma-ray production site in blazars, as well as to fundamental physics topics. I will also show how with the successor of current ground-based instruments, the "Cherenkov Telescope Array" project, a very-high energy gamma-ray AGN astronomy can be established and which new astroph ysical questions can be addressed with this facility.