| I report an analysis of TeV gamma-ray emission from the Galactic Center region using the Whipple 10m gamma-ray telescope. New analysis techniques for analyzing Whipple data are discussed, including gamma-ray selection criteria which scale automatically with zenith-angle, energy, and seasonal changes to the instrument. Additionally, two-dimensional imaging techniques are presented for analyzing sources which are offset from the center of the camera. The results of 31 hours of on-source observations of the Galactic Center over an extended period from 1995 through 2004 are presented. Empirically, our results show a very high energy measurement with a flat spectrum extending above 3 TeV, and no evidence for variability over the entire observation period. The measured excess corresponds to an integral flux of (5.3 +/- 1.9) x 10-9 m-2s-1 TeV-1 above an energy of 2.8 TeV, roughly 22% of the flux from the Crab Nebula at this energy. The 95% confidence region has an angular extent of about 15 arcmin and includes the position of Sgr A*. While the details of the emission mechanism are still unknown, we discuss several possible astrophysical and cosmological interpretations, including accretion-powered emission from an AGN-like source, and emission from WIMP dark-matter annihilation. |
