Results from the Milagro Gamma-Ray Observatory

Abstract

The Milagro Gamma-Ray Observatory, located at an altitude of 2630 m in the mountains of northern New Mexico, is the world’s first large-area water Cherenkov detector capable of continuously monitoring the overhead sky for sources of TeV gamma rays. At the center of the detector is a 60 m × 80 m × 8 m pond instrumented with 723 photomultiplier tubes in two layers. For improved sensitivity, 175 outrigger water tanks have recently been added surrounding the pond and span an area of 40,000 m 2. Preliminary results presented here include results from an all sky survey performed at TeV energies, and a search for transient emission above ∼100 GeV from gamma-ray bursts.