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arXiv · 2503.11543

Recent Highlights from the VERITAS AGN Discovery Program

Wystan Benbow·Jodi Christiansen·Julia Francescutti·Garrett Kunkler·Will Root·Phoebe Zyla
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Abstract

VERITAS began full-scale operations in 2007 and it remains one of the world's most sensitive very-high-energy (VHE; E >100 GeV) gamma-ray observatories. More than 8,300 hours (~50%) of its good-weather data were targeted on active galactic nuclei (AGN). Many of these observations were taken as part of an ongoing comprehensive program to discover new VHE AGN. Upon discovery, the VERITAS collaboration leverages VHE spectral and variability measurements, and accompanying broadband observations to probe the underlying jet-powered processes in AGN. Recent scientific highlights from the VERITAS AGN discovery program, including the VHE discoveries of B2 0912+29, 1ES 1028+511, 1ES 1118+424 and RBS 1366, are presented.

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Wystan Benbow, Jodi Christiansen, Julia Francescutti, Garrett Kunkler, Will Root, Phoebe Zyla. 2025-03-14. Recent Highlights from the VERITAS AGN Discovery Program. https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.11543

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