Bibcode
Wagner, Robert
Bibliographical reference
Proceedings of the 32nd International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2011), held 11-18 August, 2011 in Beijing, China. Vol. 8 OG2.3-2.4: Cosmic Ray Origin and Galactic Phenomena, p.143
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2011
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Description
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 gamma-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 multiwavelength observations. Also
clues on a potential periodic behavior of the sources might be drawn
from a study of 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.