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，研究极端物理环境中粒子的加速，并寻找新的TeV物理。当HAWC于2013年8月开始使用100个水切伦科夫探测器时，它将成为TeV范围内最灵敏的广域探测器，其灵敏度大约是上一代探测器的五倍。在运行的第一年，随着全部250个探测器逐步上线，HAWC的灵敏度将稳步提高。HAWC将监测北部天空，并与包括Veritas、Hess、Magic、IceCube和费米伽马射线太空望远镜在内的其他天文台进行重合观测，以进行多波长和多信使的高能天空研究。HAWC将观测TeV能量范围内的银河源，探测来自银河平面区域的漫射辐射，观察已知TeV活动星系核和已知最亮的吉电子伏(GeV)伽马射线爆发，并随着其灵敏度的显著提高，有望发现宇宙中新的高能现象。马里兰大学研究小组在HAWC中发挥着重要的领导作用。这项奖励将使马里兰大学的团队能够继续在HAWC的建造、操作和科学方面进行工作，包括重建和模拟软件、维护数PB的数据档案和科学分析。广泛影响：HAWC是一台全天仪器，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是墨西哥和美国的联合项目，它提供了一个吸引拉美裔美国学生学习科学和天体粒子物理的机会。

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.