Abstract
The High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Observatory is a wide field-of-view gamma-ray detector, sensitive to primary energies between 50 GeV and 100 TeV. The array is being built at an altitude of 4,100 m on the Sierra Negra volcano in Puebla, Mexico. With a duty cycle close to 100% and a daily coverage of ~ 8 sr of the sky above it, HAWC is ideally suited to detect bright transient events at TeV energies such as gamma-ray bursts or flares from active galactic nuclei. The array will provide an unbiased survey of gamma-ray sources at energies above 100 GeV and probe the origins of astrophysical photon emission at the highest energies. The modular design of HAWC made it possible to start data taking in September 2012 with a partial array. Operation continues while the number of water Cherenkov detectors is growing, which allowed a smooth transition to full scientific operation with 111 detectors in August 2013. The completion of the full array with 300 detectors is planned for the summer of 2014. In these proceedings, we will give an overview of the status and performance of the HAWC observatory and discuss observation strategies for various gamma-ray phenomena.
Highlights
Gamma-ray astronomy has become a field of rapid progress and provides unprecedented insights into astrophysical phenomena and the non-thermal universe
The MILAGRO1 collaboration proved that a water Cherenkov detector (WCD) optimized for reconstructing gamma-ray air showers can provide observations of TeV gamma-rays with a wide field of view and high duty cycle
Only a few weeks of cosmic-ray data from High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC)-30 are sufficient to detect the shadow cast by the moon in the nearly isotropic flux of cosmic rays
Summary
Gamma-ray astronomy has become a field of rapid progress and provides unprecedented insights into astrophysical phenomena and the non-thermal universe. The MILAGRO1 collaboration proved that a water Cherenkov detector (WCD) optimized for reconstructing gamma-ray air showers can provide observations of TeV gamma-rays with a wide field of view and high duty cycle. The HAWC observatory is a direct successor to MILAGRO with a lower energy threshold down to ∼ 100 GeV It will deepen the survey of gamma-ray emitters in our galaxy and provide unique insights into extra-galactic sources. HAWC can be used to monitor more than 2 steradians (sr) of the sky above it at any time, independent of environmental factors and with an expected downtime on the order of only a few percent due to maintenance These detector properties will make it possible to run an extensive monitoring program of bright transient gamma-ray sources and to survey a large fraction of the sky with HAWC. A background for gamma ray detection, can be mapped to explore their anisotropy or used to study the interaction with solar particle acceleration
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