Operation of the HAWC Gamma-Ray Observatory

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。HAWC正在墨西哥海拔4100米的地方建设，由美国和墨西哥机构合作。该合同将为2013年8月开始的运营提供资金，即使施工已经完成。在运行初期，拥有100个水切伦科夫探测器的HAWC将成为TeV范围内最敏感的宽视场探测器。在运行的第一年，随着更多的探测器上线，HAWC的灵敏度将稳步提高。当2014年秋季完工时，HAWC将由250-300个探测器组成，其灵敏度将比之前的探测器高出一个数量级。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。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，将高能天体物理学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粒子天体物理学的机会。

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. HAWC is under construction at an elevation of 4100 meters above sea level in Mexico by a collaboration of US and Mexican institutions. This award will fund operations that will begin in August 2013 even while construction is being completed. At the beginning of operations HAWC, with 100 Water Cherenkov Detectors, will be the most sensitive wide-field detector in the TeV range. During the first year of operation, HAWC's sensitivity will steadily increase as more detectors are brought online. When completed in the Fall of 2014 HAWC will consist of an array of the 250-300 detectors and will be more than an order of magnitude more sensitive than its predecessors. 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.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 the high-energy astrophysics field 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 to particle astrophysics.