Construction of the HAWC Gamma-Ray Observatory

该合同将为将在墨西哥内格拉山脉建造的高海拔水切伦科夫伽马射线观测站提供资金。这里提供了建造HAWC的硬件、工程和合同(非科学家)劳动力的成本。HAWC的观测将探测宇宙中最极端的环境，提供银河系内外非热过程的独特视角。HAWC的主要科学目标是：(A)测量星系源的最高能量谱；(B)绘制银河系弥漫伽马射线辐射图，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时辐射；(D)监测天空中伽马射线爆发的100GeV辐射；(E)利用HAWC的无偏天空测量，探索新的TeV物理。HAWC的测量有可能揭示自然界的基本对称性，包括在极端能量下寻找洛伦兹破坏，寻找宇宙中的暗物质，以及直接探测大质量遗迹粒子。HAWC是一个由250个大型水箱组成的阵列，每个水箱都装有安装在水箱底部的三个光电倍增管(PMT)。这些坦克将占地约2万平方米。探测器元件的探测范围扩大、高度增加和光学隔离导致敏感度比Milagro提高了15倍，Milagro对TeV天空进行了迄今为止最深的广域勘测。通过在HAWC现场制作和部署测试阵列的原型和部署，改进了设计和成本。在整个开发过程中，成本估算和设计敏感性大致保持不变。目标是在阵列建造期间开始采集数据，并在大约三年内上线。这将允许HAWC在费米任务进行期间运行。广泛的影响：HAWC是一台全天仪器，将具有将卫星发现的源的测量扩展到TeV能量的灵敏度。HAWC将在Milagro强大的外展记录的基础上，将这一令人兴奋的研究领域带给学生和普通公众。由于HAWC是美国和墨西哥的联合项目，这将是一个极好的机会，可以吸引有才华的拉美裔学生进入粒子天体物理学领域和整个物理学领域。该小组用西班牙语和英语制作了一个关于HAWC的外展视频以及关于HAWC和粒子天体物理学的网络材料。

This award will provide funds for the construction of the High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) gamma-ray observatory to be built at Sierra Negra in Mexico. The costs for hardware, engineering, and contract (nonscientist) labor to build HAWC are being provided here. 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 an array consisting of 250 large water tanks, each instrumented with three photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) mounted on the bottom of the tank. The tanks will cover an area of ~20,000 square meters. The expanded detection, increased altitude and optical isolation of the detector elements lead to a 15-fold increase in sensitivity relative to Milagro, which performed the deepest wide-field survey of the TeV sky to date. Refinement of the design and cost has been achieved through prototyping and deploying a test array at the HAWC site. The cost estimate and design sensitivity have stayed roughly constant through the development process. The goal is to begin taking data while the array is under construction and to be online within approximately three years. This will allow HAWC to run while the Fermi mission is ongoing.Broader Impacts: HAWC is an all-sky instrument that will have the sensitivity to extend the measurement of satellite-discovered sources to TeV energies. 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 group has developed an outreach video about HAWC and web materials about HAWC and Particle Astrophysics in both Spanish and English.