Collaborative Research: Personnel Support for the Construction and Commissioning of the HAWC Gamma-Ray Observatory

合作研究：HAWC伽马射线天文台建设和调试的人员支持

• 批准号: 1002350
• 负责人: Miguel Mostafa
• 金额: $ 4.5万
• 依托单位: Colorado State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-10-01 至 2011-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1002350&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Personnel; Support; Construction

This is a collaborative award to support the scientists who will work on the construction, commissioning and initial analysis of data from the High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) gamma-ray observatory being built at the Sierra Negra in Mexico. The HAWC collaboration consists of 14 US and 11 Mexican institutions. The observations of HAWC will probe the most extreme environments in the Universe, providing a unique view of non-thermal processes in the Galaxy and beyond. The key science goals of HAWC are to: (a) Measure the spectrum of Galactic sources to the highest energies; (b) Map the Galactic diffuse gamma-ray emission from 1 TeV to 100 TeV, measuring the cosmic-ray flux and spectrum across the Galaxy; (c) Study transient emission from active galactic nuclei (AGN); (d) Monitor the sky for 100 GeV emission from gamma-ray bursts; and (e) Search for new TeV physics with HAWC's unbiased sky survey. HAWC measurements have the potential to shed light on the fundamental symmetries of nature, including the search for Lorentz violation at extreme energies, the search for the dark matter in the universe, and the direct detection of massive relic particles. HAWC is a water Cherenkov air-shower detector consisting of 300 large water tanks. The tanks will be densely packed to cover an area of about 20,000 square meters. The goal is to begin taking data while the array is under construction and to have the full detector online within approximately three years. Broader Impacts: HAWC is an all-sky instrument that will serve as a TeV "finder" telescope for Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) and IceCube and will have the sensitivity to extend the measurement of satellite-discovered sources to TeV. HAWC will build on the strong outreach record of Milagro to bring this exciting field of research to students and the general public. Since HAWC is a joint US-Mexican project, this will be an excellent opportunity to attract talented Hispanic students to the field of Particle Astrophysics and to Physics in general. The project has developed an outreach video about HAWC and web materials about HAWC and Particle Astrophysics in both Spanish and English.

这是一个合作奖项，旨在支持那些致力于墨西哥内格拉山脉高海拔水切伦科夫 (HAWC) 伽马射线天文台的建设、调试和数据初步分析工作的科学家。 HAWC 合作由 14 个美国机构和 11 个墨西哥机构组成。 HAWC 的观测将探测宇宙中最极端的环境，为银河系及其他地区的非热过程提供独特的视角。 HAWC 的主要科学目标是： (a) 测量银河源最高能量的光谱； (b) 绘制从 1 TeV 到 100 TeV 的银河漫射伽马射线发射图，测量整个银河系的宇宙射线通量和光谱； (c) 研究活动星系核（AGN）的瞬态发射； (d) 监测天空中伽马射线爆发的 100 GeV 发射； (e) 利用 HAWC 的无偏天空巡天寻找新的 TeV 物理学。 HAWC 测量有可能揭示自然的基本对称性，包括寻找极端能量下的洛伦兹破坏、寻找宇宙中的暗物质以及直接探测大量遗迹粒子。 HAWC是一种水切伦科夫风淋室探测器，由300个大水箱组成。这些储罐将密集排列，占地面积约2万平方米。目标是在阵列建设期间开始采集数据，并在大约三年内让完整的探测器上线。更广泛的影响：HAWC 是一种全天空仪器，将作为大气切伦科夫成像望远镜 (IACT) 和 IceCube 的 TeV“发现者”望远镜，并且具有将卫星发现的源的测量扩展到 TeV 的灵敏度。 HAWC 将在 Milagro 强大的外展记录的基础上，将这一令人兴奋的研究领域带给学生和公众。由于 HAWC 是美国和墨西哥的联合项目，这将是吸引有才华的西班牙裔学生进入粒子天体物理学和一般物理学领域的绝佳机会。该项目制作了有关 HAWC 的宣传视频以及有关 HAWC 和粒子天体物理学的西班牙语和英语网络材料。