4-6 May 2015
Union South
US/Central timezone

Monitoring TeV Gamma-ray Sources for Flaring States with HAWC

4 May 2015, 15:50
20m
Northwoods (Union South)

Northwoods

Union South

1308 West Dayton Street, Madison, WI 53706
High-Energy Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Gamma Rays

Speaker

Mr Ian Wisher (University of Wisconsin - Madison)

Description

The flux of many TeV gamma-ray emitters exhibits time variability. Detection of these flaring states across multiple wavelengths will lead to a better understanding of the acceleration processes occurring in the source. The High-Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Observatory is an extensive air-shower detector located near Pico de Orizaba in Mexico which is sensitive to TeV gamma rays. Designed as a survey instrument, the HAWC detector has a large field of view and nearly 100% uptime. This makes HAWC an ideal instrument to monitor sources for transient flaring states. We will present a method of monitoring sources using a Bayesian blocks algorithm to detect changes in the flux and report alerts in real time. We also discuss the sensitivity of the method using data from the construction phase of HAWC.

Primary author

Mr Ian Wisher (University of Wisconsin - Madison)

Presentation Materials