Nuclear, Particle, Astroparticle and Cosmology (NUPAC) Seminars
Detection of high energy gamma rays with the HAWC observatory
Presented by Zhixiang Ren, UNM
The High Altitude Water Cherenkov Gamma-Ray Observatory (HAWC) is a gamma ray and cosmic ray (CR) observatory locates on the flank (with 4100m altitude) of the Sierra Negra volcano in Puebla Mexico, which was completed in March 2015 with the support of the National Science Foundation and Department of Energy in the USA and Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia in Mexico. HAWC is an international collaboration between more than thirty institutions in Mexico, the US and Europe.
HAWC is a continuously operated, wide field-of-view (~2sr) observatory sensitive to
100 GeV to 100 TeV gamma rays and cosmic rays and >90% duty cycle. HAWC uses
300 larger water tanks, each of which contains 4 photo-multiplier tubes (PMT), to detect air shower particles which are produced by high energy gamma rays and cosmic rays striking the atmosphere. Those particles will produce blue light (water Cherenkov light) while traveling through the water tanks, which then collected by the PMTs. HAWC is well suited to observe a variety of transient and extended sources, including diffuse emission from the galactic plane, supernova remnants (SNR), active galactic nuclei (AGN), gamma ray bursts (GRB) and so on.
2:00 pm, Tuesday, February 14, 2017
PAIS-2540, PAIS
Individuals with disabilities who need an auxiliary aid or service to attend or participate in P&A events should contact the Physics Department (phone: 505-277-2616, email: physics@unm.edu) well in advance to ensure your needs are accomodated. Event handouts can be provided in alternative accessible formats upon request. Please contact the Physics front office if you need written information in an alternative format.
A schedule of talks within the Department of Physics and Astronomy is available on the P&A web site at http://physics.unm.edu/pandaweb/events/index.php