Observing the universe at TeV energies with the HAWC observatory
Por:
González M.M.
Publicada:
1 ene 2007
Resumen:
The HAWC (High Altitude Water Cherenkov) observatory is a proposed experiment that combines a very high altitude site with the developed and proven Milagro water Cherenkov technology. HAWC is a 150m x 150m pond of water located above 4100 m over see level with a large field of view and a duty cycle higher than 95%. When completed HAWC will be sensitive to gamma-ray induced air showers from ?100 GeV to 100 TeV with a median energy around 1 TeV. After two years of operation it will have surveyed ?2? sr of the northern sky with a sensitivity of 40mCrab and will be able to see transient signals of 1 Crab at 5? in a single day. This sensitivity will likely result in the discovery of new sources as well as allow to follow up observations of detectors such as GLAST, VERITAS/HESS and IceCube. In this work, the observatory design, performance, capabilities and possible sites will be discussed.