Highlights from the VERITAS AGN Observation Program

Abstract

The VERITAS array of four 12-m imaging atmospheric-Cherenkov telescopes began full-scale operations in 2007, and is one of the world's most sensitive detectors of astrophysical very high energy (VHE; E>100 GeV) gamma rays. Observations of active galactic nuclei (AGN) are a major focus of the VERITAS Collaboration, and more than 60 AGN, primarily blazars, are known to emit VHE photons. Approximately 4000 hours have been devoted to the VERITAS AGN observation program, resulting in 34 detections. Most of these detections are accompanied by contemporaneous, broadband observations, enabling a more detailed study of the underlying jet-powered processes. Recent highlights of the VERITAS AGN observation program are presented.

6 pages, 4 figures; Contribution to the 6th International Symposium on High Energy Gamma-Ray Astronomy (Gamma2016), Heidelberg, Germany. To be published in the AIP Conference Proceedings. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1508.07251

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