Particle Astrophysics with HAWC

高海拔水切伦科夫（HAWC）伽马射线天文台是一个宽视场、连续运行的太电子伏特（TeV）伽马射线望远镜，将探索宇宙射线的起源，研究极端物理环境下粒子的加速，并寻找新的TeV物理。当HAWC在2013年8月开始使用100个水切伦科夫探测器时，它将是在TeV范围内最灵敏的宽场探测器，灵敏度比上一代探测器提高了大约5倍。在运行的第一年，随着全部250个探测器逐渐上线，HAWC的灵敏度将稳步提高。HAWC将监测北方天空，并与包括VERITAS、HESS、Magic、IceCube和费米伽玛射线空间望远镜在内的其他天文台进行同步观测，对高能天空进行多波长和多信使研究。HAWC将观测TeV能量范围内的星系源，探测银河面区域的漫射辐射，观测已知的TeV活动星系核和已知最亮的千兆电子伏（GeV）伽马射线爆发，随着其灵敏度的显著提高，它将准备发现宇宙中新的高能现象。马里兰大学小组在HAWC中发挥着重要的领导作用。该合同将使马里兰大学小组能够继续在HAWC的建设、运行和科学方面开展工作，包括重建和仿真软件、多pb数据存档的维护和科学分析。更广泛的影响：HAWC是一种全天候仪器，将作为地面天文台的TeV“发现者”望远镜，它可以用于将卫星发现的源的测量扩展到TeV能量。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是一个墨西哥裔美国人的联合项目，它提供了一个吸引西班牙裔美国学生学习科学和天体粒子物理学的机会。

The High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Gamma-ray Observatory is a wide field-of-view, continuously operating, teraelectronvolt (TeV) gamma-ray telescope that will explore the origin of cosmic rays, study the acceleration of particles in extreme physical environments, and search for new TeV physics. When HAWC begins operations in August 2013 with 100 Water Cherenkov Detectors it will be the most sensitive wide-field detector in the TeV range, with an approximately five times increase in sensitivity over the previous generation of detectors. During the first year of operation, HAWC's sensitivity will steadily increase as the full 250 detectors are gradually brought online. HAWC will monitor the northern sky and make coincident observations with other observatories including VERITAS, HESS, Magic, IceCube and the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope for multi-wavelength and multi-messenger studies of the high-energy sky. HAWC will observe Galactic sources in the TeV energy range, detect diffuse emission from regions of the Galactic plane, observe known TeV active galactic nuclei and the brightest known gigaelectronvolt (GeV) gamma-ray bursts, and with its significant increase in sensitivity it is poised to discover new high-energy phenomena in the Universe.The University of Maryland group has a significant leadership role in HAWC. This award will enable the University of Maryland group to continue work in the construction, operation and science of HAWC including reconstruction and simulation software, maintenance of the multi-Petabyte data archive, and science analysis.Broader Impacts: HAWC is an all-sky instrument that will serve as a TeV "finder" telescope for ground-based observatories, and it can be used to extend measurements 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 Mexican-American project, it presents an opportunity to attract Hispanic-American students to science and astroparticle physics.