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The High-Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory in México: The primary detector

  • HAWC Collaboration
    ,
  • A. U. Abeysekara(Author)
    ,
  • A. Albert(Author)
    ,
  • J. C. Arteaga-Velázquez(Author)
    ,
  • K. P. Arunbabu(Author)
    ,
  • D. Avila Rojas(Author)
*Corresponding author for this work
  • University of Utah
    ,
  • Los Alamos National Laboratory
    ,
  • Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolas de Hidalgo
    ,
  • Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
    ,
  • Pennsylvania State University
    ,
  • Michigan Technological University
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Abstract

The High-Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory is a second-generation continuously operated, wide field-of-view, TeV gamma-ray observatory. The HAWC observatory and its analysis techniques build on experience of the Milagro experiment in using ground-based water Cherenkov detectors for gamma-ray astronomy. HAWC is located on the Sierra Negra volcano in México at an elevation of 4100 meters above sea level. The completed HAWC observatory principal detector (HAWC) consists of 300 closely spaced water Cherenkov detectors, each equipped with four photomultiplier tubes to provide timing and charge information to reconstruct the extensive air shower energy and arrival direction. The HAWC observatory has been optimized to observe transient and steady emission from sources of gamma rays within an energy range from several hundred GeV to several hundred TeV. However, most of the air showers detected are initiated by cosmic rays, allowing studies of cosmic rays also to be performed. This paper describes the characteristics of the HAWC main array and its hardware.

Publication Information

Output type

Research Output:
Contribution to journal
Article
 Peer-review

Original language

English

Article number

168253

Journal (Volume, Issue Number)

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment (Volume 1052, Issue 168253)

Publication milestones

  • Published - 07/2023

Publication status

Published - 07/2023

ISSN

0168-9002

Publication IDs

  • Scopus: 85151794224

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Funding Details

We acknowledge the support from: the US National Science Foundation (NSF) ; the US Department of Energy Office of High-Energy Physics ; the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program of Los Alamos National Laboratory ; Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACyT), México , grants 271051 , 232656 , 260378 , 179588 , 254964 , 258865 , 243290 , 132197 , A1-S-46288 , A1-S-22784 , cátedras 873 , 1563 , 341 , 323 , Red HAWC, México ; DGAPA-UNAM grants IG101320 , IN111716-3 , IN111419 , IA102019 , IN110621 , IN110521 , IN102223 ; VIEP-BUAP ; PIFI 2012 , 2013 , PROFOCIE 2014 , 2015 ; the University of Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation ; the Institute of Geophysics, Planetary Physics, and Signatures at Los Alamos National Laboratory ; Polish Science Centre grant, DEC-2017/27/B/ST9/02272 ; Coordinación de la Investigación Científica de la Universidad Michoacana ; Royal Society - Newton Advanced Fellowship 180385 ; Generalitat Valenciana , grant CIDEGENT/2018/034 ; Chulalongkorn University’s CUniverse (CUAASC) grant ; Coordinación General Académica y de Innovación (CGAI-UdeG) ; Cuerpo académico PRODEP-SEP UDG-CA-499 . H.F. acknowledges support by NASA under award number 80GSFC21M0002 . We also acknowledge the significant contributions of former members of the HAWC collaboration: R. Arceo, E. Almaraz, M. Alvarez, J. R. Angeles Camacho, B. M. Baughman, D. Berley, P. Colin Farias, M. A. Diaz Cruz, D. W. Fiorino, D. Garcia, V. Grabski, Z. Hampel-Arias, J. Jablonski, N. Kelley-Hoskins, M. Lamprea, S. S. Marinelli, J. Martínez, C. Rivière, M. Rosenberg, P. Vanegas, X. J. Vázquez, O. Vázquez-Estrada, G. Vianello, D. Warner, T. Weisgarber, T. Yapici, and P. W. Younk. Thanks to Scott Delay, Luciano Díaz, Eduardo Murrieta and Janina Nava for technical support. The observatory was constructed with financial support led by the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia Tecnología (CONACyT) of México, and the United States National Science Foundation (NSF) and Department of Energy (DoE). We acknowledge the support from: the US National Science Foundation (NSF); the US Department of Energy Office of High-Energy Physics; the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program of Los Alamos National Laboratory; Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACyT), México, grants 271051, 232656, 260378, 179588, 254964, 258865, 243290, 132197, A1-S-46288, A1-S-22784, cátedras873, 1563, 341, 323, Red HAWC, México; DGAPA-UNAM grants IG101320, IN111716-3, IN111419, IA102019, IN110621, IN110521, IN102223; VIEP-BUAP; PIFI 2012, 2013, PROFOCIE 2014, 2015; the University of Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation; the Institute of Geophysics, Planetary Physics, and Signatures at Los Alamos National Laboratory; Polish Science Centre grant, DEC-2017/27/B/ST9/02272; Coordinación de la Investigación Científica de la Universidad Michoacana; Royal Society - Newton Advanced Fellowship180385; Generalitat Valenciana, grant CIDEGENT/2018/034; Chulalongkorn University's CUniverse (CUAASC) grant; Coordinación General Académica y de Innovación (CGAI-UdeG); Cuerpo académicoPRODEP-SEP UDG-CA-499. H.F. acknowledges support by NASA under award number 80GSFC21M0002. We also acknowledge the significant contributions of former members of the HAWC collaboration: R. Arceo, E. Almaraz, M. Alvarez, J. R. Angeles Camacho, B. M. Baughman, D. Berley, P. Colin Farias, M. A. Diaz Cruz, D. W. Fiorino, D. Garcia, V. Grabski, Z. Hampel-Arias, J. Jablonski, N. Kelley-Hoskins, M. Lamprea, S. S. Marinelli, J. Martínez, C. Rivière, M. Rosenberg, P. Vanegas, X. J. Vázquez, O. Vázquez-Estrada, G. Vianello, D. Warner, T. Weisgarber, T. Yapici, and P. W. Younk. Thanks to Scott Delay, Luciano Díaz, Eduardo Murrieta and Janina Nava for technical support.
FundersFunding numbers
CUAASC
-
Chulalongkorn University's CUniverse
-
Chulalongkorn University's CUniverse
-
Coordinación General Académica y de Innovación
PRODEP-SEP UDG-CA-499
Coordinación de la Investigación Científica de la Universidad Michoacana
-
Institute of Geophysics
-
Planetary Physics
-
Polish Science Centre
DEC-2017/27/B/ST9/02272
US Department of Energy Office of High-Energy Physics
-
University of Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation
-
VIEP-BUAP
-
NSF
-
USDOE
-
NASA
80GSFC21M0002
NASA
-
LDRD
-
LANL
-
Royal Society
180385
Royal Society
-
CONACYT
271051, A1-S-46288, 254964, 258865, A1-S-22784, 260378, 132197, 179588, 232656, 243290
CONACYT
-
GVA
CIDEGENT/2018/034
GVA
-
DGAPA, UNAM
IN102223, IN111419, IG101320, IN111716-3, IN110621, IA102019, IN110521
DGAPA, UNAM
-