arXiv subjects

the HAWC Collaboration

Publications and source records attributed to the HAWC Collaboration.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

HAWC, Fermi-LAT and Chandra Detections of High Energy Particles in the S106 Star Forming Region

Local star-forming regions have recently been the subject of scrutiny as cosmic-ray accelerators and sources of ultra-high-energy gamma-ray emissions. The Cygnus-X region is one of the richest star forming regions in the galaxy and over the last few decades has been extensively studied. Here we report the detection of a star-forming region located in the southern part of Cygnus-X, Sharpless 106 (S106), using the HAWC Observatory. The S106 region is spatially located near the cataloged gamma-ray source 1LHAASO J2027+3657. In this work, we perform a multi-wavelength analysis of S106, by combining HAWC data with re-analysis of Fermi-LAT and archival Chandra data. We construct a fully leptonic model for the multi-wavelength emission from S106 from a single population of high-energy leptons, with the gamma-rays greater than 1 TeV being produced by inverse Compton scattering of the locally-produced IR photon field from S106 itself. Our models show that hadronic mechanisms are not always required to explain the observed flux from gamma-ray star-forming regions and that understanding the specific details of local photon fields is crucial to modeling the multi-wavelength emission from star-forming regions.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2023

The PeVatrons and the HAWC Observatory in Mexico

The discovery of ultra-high energy gamma-ray sources (detected at energies $\geq$ 100 TeV) thanks to highly sensitive observatories such as the High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Observatory, the Tibet AS-gamma Experiment, and the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO), marked the beginning of the sub--PeV and PeV era in gamma-ray astrophysics (energies $\sim$ 0.1 to 100 PeV). This new astrophysics is closely related to the emerging topic of PeVatrons, in which HAWC has played a remarkable role and will continue to contribute discoveries and relevant studies thanks to the better data provided by the installed outriggers. In this paper, we present a brief overview of the PeVatrons and the HAWC observatory.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2017

Survey of nearby active galactic nuclei with the HAWC Observatory

The High Altitude Water Cherenkov Observatory (HAWC) has a wide field-of-view (FOV, $\sim$2sr) and a high duty cycle ($\sim$95\%), which make it a powerful survey and monitoring experiment for sources of TeV gamma rays. We present a systematic survey of gamma-ray sources based on the Fermi 3FHL catalog. Sources are restricted to HAWC's FOV (Declination 19$^\circ$ $\pm$ 40$^\circ$) and to extragalactic sources with redshift: 0.001 $<$ z $<$ 0.3. Extragalactic gamma-ray sources are dominated by active galactic nuclei (AGN) and TeV gamma-ray sources are mostly BL Lac-type blazars. The study of AGNs through high energy gamma rays has opened a new window into the extreme processes of particle acceleration in the jets of these objects and provides a way to study the photon propagation and extra-galactic background light. We have improved the HAWC sensitivity at low energies (100 GeV to 1 TeV) based on the Crab pulsar, which is an excellent calibration source for TeV gamma rays. We will present the results of searching for and monitoring nearby AGNs with the improved analysis.

astro-ph.HE↗