Abstract

The HAWC (High Altitude Water Cherenkov) observatory, located on the slopes of the Sierra Negra volcano in the state of Puebla, Mexico, was designed with the goal of detecting gamma-rays in the Teraelectron- volt energy range. However, most of the air showers that are detected with the observatory, with a rate of ≈ 27 kHz, are of hadronic origin. This makes that, after three years of operations, HAWC has accumulated a very large data set that allows to perform cosmic-ray analysis of high precision. The details of the observatory operation, as well as a selection of recent results in cosmic-ray physics are discussed in this work.

Highlights

  • The HAWC observatory is a second generation ground based instrument designed to characterize electromagnetic showers with high precision

  • Every detector unit is instrumented with four photomultiplier tubes (PMTs): three 8 inch Hamamatsu R5912 and one 10 inch R7081, anchored at the base of the bladder and looking at the water volume upwards

  • The HAWC PMTs are connected, using RG-59 cables, to Front-End Boards (FEBs) that were previously used by the Milagro experiment [1]

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Summary

Introduction

The HAWC observatory is a second generation ground based instrument designed to characterize electromagnetic showers with high precision. This allows to obtain the best gamma/hadron rejection obtained so far for this particular type of instrument. The observatory is located at an altitude of ≈ 4100 m above sea level and is made of 300 detector units or WCDs (Water Cherenkov Detectors). Every detector unit is instrumented with four photomultiplier tubes (PMTs): three 8 inch Hamamatsu R5912 and one 10 inch R7081, anchored at the base of the bladder and looking at the water volume upwards. The WCDs detect the passage of charged particles in the air showers, as they produce Cherenkov light inside the water volume. HAWC has been taking data with his full configuration since its inauguration on March 20, 2015

Data Acquisition System
Air shower reconstruction
Constraints on the antiproton to proton ratio at TeV energies
All-particle cosmic-ray spectrum
The positron excess and extended sources
The HAWC Sparse Outrigger Array
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