TeV Gamma-ray Observations of The Galactic Center Ridge By VERITAS

The Galactic Center ridge has been observed extensively in the past by both GeV and TeV gamma-ray instruments revealing a wealth of structure, including a diffuse component and the point sources G0.9+0.1 (a composite supernova remnant) and Sgr A* (believed to be associated with the supermassive black hole located at the center of our Galaxy). Previous very high energy (VHE) gamma-ray observations with the H.E.S.S. experiment have also detected an extended TeV gamma-ray component along the Galactic plane in the \u3e300 GeV gamma-ray regime. Here we report on observations of the Galactic Center ridge from 2010 to 2014 by the VERITAS telescope array in the \u3e2 TeV energy range. From these observations we (1) provide improved measurements of the differential energy spectrum for Sgr A* in the \u3e2 TeV gamma-ray regime, (2) provide a detection in the \u3e2 TeV gamma-ray emission from the composite SNR G0.9+0.1 and an improved determination of its multi-TeV gamma-ray energy spectrum, and (3) report on the detection of VER J1746-289, a localized enhancement of \u3e2 TeV gamma-ray emission along the Galactic plane