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Register a new userMultiple Galactic Sources with Emission Above 56 TeV Detected by HAWC
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We present the first catalog of gamma-ray sources emitting above 56 and 100 TeV with data from the High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Observatory, a wide field-of-view observatory capable of detecting gamma rays up to a few hundred TeV. Nine sources are observed above 56 TeV, all of which are likely Galactic in origin. Three sources continue emitting past 100 TeV, making this the highest-energy gamma-ray source catalog to date. We report the integral flux of each of these objects. We also report spectra for three highest-energy sources and discuss the possibility that they are PeVatrons.
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The High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Observatory is a wide-field-of-view gamma-ray observatory that is optimized to detect gamma rays between ~300 GeV and several hundred TeV. The HAWC Collaboration recently released their third source catalog (3HWC), which contains 65 sources. One of these sources, the ultra-high-energy gamma-ray source 3HWC J1908+063, may exhibit a hardening of the spectral index at the highest energies (above 56 TeV). At least two populations of particles are needed to satisfactorily explain the highest energy emission. This second component could be leptonic or hadronic in origin. If it is hadronic in origin, it would imply the presence of protons with energies up to $sim$1 PeV near the source. We have searched other 3HWC sources for the presence of this spectral hardening feature. If observed, this would imply that the sources could make good PeVatron candidates.
The High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory and the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) are two leading instruments in the ground-based very-high-energy gamma-ray domain. HAWC employs the water Cherenkov detection (WCD) technique, while H.E.S.S. is an array of Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs). The two facilities therefore differ in multiple aspects, including their observation strategy, the size of their field of view and their angular resolution, leading to different analysis approaches. Until now, it has been unclear if the results of observations by both types of instruments are consistent: several of the recently discovered HAWC sources have been followed up by IACTs, resulting in a confirmed detection only in a minority of cases. With this paper, we go further and try to resolve the tensions between previous results by performing a new analysis of the H.E.S.S. Galactic plane survey data, applying an analysis technique comparable between H.E.S.S. and HAWC. Events above 1 TeV are selected for both datasets, the point spread function of H.E.S.S. is broadened to approach that of HAWC, and a similar background estimation method is used. This is the first detailed comparison of the Galactic plane observed by both instruments. H.E.S.S. can confirm the gamma-ray emission of four HAWC sources among seven previously undetected by IACTs, while the three others have measured fluxes below the sensitivity of the H.E.S.S. dataset. Remaining differences in the overall gamma-ray flux can be explained by the systematic uncertainties. Therefore, we confirm a consistent view of the gamma-ray sky between WCD and IACT techniques.
Supernova remnants (SNRs) have long been hypothesized as the main source of Galactic Cosmic Rays up to PeV energies. Some of them have indeed been shown to accelerate protons to TeV energies and above. But which of them are indeed efficient accelerators of protons and nuclei? And up to which energies can they accelerate these particles? Measurements of non-thermal emission, especially in the X-ray and gamma-ray regimes, are essential to answer these questions. The High-Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory, surveying the northern TeV gamma-ray sky, is currently the most sensitive wide field-of-view survey instrument in the VHE (very-high-energy, $>$100 GeV) range. With more than three years of data recorded, HAWC is ideally suited for an unbiased survey of gamma-ray emission from galactic SNRs, particularly at TeV energies and above. In this proceeding, I will give an overview of recent measurements of VHE gamma-ray emission from SNRs with the HAWC Observatory. Combined with data from other wavelengths, these measurements are used to derive information about the underlying particle populations such as the maximum acceleration energy and whether leptonic or hadronic processes are responsible for the emission.
We present the first catalogs of the highest-energy (above 56 TeV and 100 TeV) gamma-ray sources seen by the High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Observatory. The wide field-of-view of HAWC naturally lends itself to unbiased all-sky surveys and newly developed event-by-event gamma-ray energy reconstruction algorithms have allowed unprecedented energy resolution. The sources presented here are the highest-energy sources ever detected. All are coincident with known lower-energy gamma-ray sources within our Galaxy. These objects may have implications for the sources of Galactic cosmic rays; since Galactic CRs have been observed up to PeV energies, sources accelerating particles to these energies must exist. These sources, called PeVatrons, would have corresponding hard gamma-ray spectra that extend to high energies without any spectral break or cutoff. We will present measurements of the spectra of these highest-energy gamma-ray sources and discuss if any of them can be identified as PeVatron candidates.
The High-Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Observatory records the air showers produced by cosmic rays and gamma rays at a rate of about 20 kHz. While the events observed by HAWC are 99.9% hadronic cosmic rays, this background can be strongly suppressed using topological cuts that preferentially select electromagnetic air showers. Using this capability of HAWC, we can create a sample of air showers dominated by gamma rays and cosmic electrons and positrons. HAWC is one of the few operating observatories capable of measuring showers produced by electron and positron primaries above 1 TeV, and can record these showers from two-thirds of the sky each day. We describe the sensitivity of HAWC to leptonic cosmic rays, and discuss prospects for the measurement of the combined $e^+e^-$ flux and possible approaches for positron and electron charge separation with the HAWC detector.
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