Collaborative Research: Personnel Support for the Construction and Commissioning of the HAWC Gamma-Ray Observatory

合作研究：HAWC伽马射线天文台建设和调试的人员支持

• 批准号: 1002482
• 负责人: Stefan Westerhoff
• 金额: $ 46万
• 依托单位: University of Wisconsin-Madison
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-10-01 至 2013-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1002482&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Personnel; Support; Construction

This is a collaborative award to support the scientists who will work on the construction, commissioning and initial analysis of data from the High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) gamma-ray observatory being built at the Sierra Negra in Mexico. The HAWC collaboration consists of 14 US and 11 Mexican institutions. The observations of HAWC will probe the most extreme environments in the Universe, providing a unique view of non-thermal processes in the Galaxy and beyond. The key science goals of HAWC are to: (a) Measure the spectrum of Galactic sources to the highest energies; (b) Map the Galactic diffuse gamma-ray emission from 1 TeV to 100 TeV, measuring the cosmic-ray flux and spectrum across the Galaxy; (c) Study transient emission from active galactic nuclei (AGN); (d) Monitor the sky for 100 GeV emission from gamma-ray bursts; and (e) Search for new TeV physics with HAWC's unbiased sky survey. HAWC measurements have the potential to shed light on the fundamental symmetries of nature, including the search for Lorentz violation at extreme energies, the search for the dark matter in the universe, and the direct detection of massive relic particles. HAWC is a water Cherenkov air-shower detector consisting of 300 large water tanks. The tanks will be densely packed to cover an area of about 20,000 square meters. The goal is to begin taking data while the array is under construction and to have the full detector online within approximately three years. Broader Impacts: HAWC is an all-sky instrument that will serve as a TeV "finder" telescope for Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) and IceCube and will have the sensitivity to extend the measurement of satellite-discovered sources to TeV. HAWC will build on the strong outreach record of Milagro to bring this exciting field of research to students and the general public. Since HAWC is a joint US-Mexican project, this will be an excellent opportunity to attract talented Hispanic students to the field of Particle Astrophysics and to Physics in general. The project has developed an outreach video about HAWC and web materials about HAWC and Particle Astrophysics in both Spanish and English.

这是一个合作奖，用于支持科学家们在墨西哥Sierra Negra建造的高海拔水切伦科夫（HAWC）伽马射线天文台的建设、调试和初步数据分析工作。HAWC合作由14个美国机构和11个墨西哥机构组成。HAWC的观测将探测宇宙中最极端的环境，为银河系内外的非热过程提供独特的视角。HAWC的主要科学目标是：(a)测量最高能量的银河系源的光谱；(b)绘制从1 TeV到100 TeV的银河系漫射伽马射线发射图，测量整个银河系的宇宙射线通量和光谱；(c)研究活动星系核的瞬态辐射；(d)监测天空中伽马射线暴产生的100 GeV辐射；(e)利用HAWC的无偏巡天寻找新的TeV物理。HAWC测量有可能揭示自然界的基本对称性，包括寻找极端能量下的洛伦兹违反，寻找宇宙中的暗物质，以及直接探测大质量遗留粒子。HAWC是一种切伦科夫水风淋探测器，由300个大型水箱组成。这些储罐将密集分布，占地面积约为2万平方米。目标是在阵列建设期间开始采集数据，并在大约三年内使整个探测器上线。更广泛的影响：HAWC是一种全天候仪器，将作为成像大气切伦科夫望远镜（IACTs）和冰立方的TeV“发现者”望远镜，并将具有将卫星发现源的测量扩展到TeV的灵敏度。HAWC将以Milagro强大的外展记录为基础，将这一令人兴奋的研究领域带给学生和公众。由于HAWC是一个美墨联合项目，这将是一个极好的机会，吸引有才华的西班牙裔学生进入粒子天体物理学和一般物理学领域。该项目制作了一个关于HAWC的外联视频，以及西班牙语和英语的关于HAWC和粒子天体物理学的网络材料。