1. The Search for TeV-scale Dark Matter with the HAWC Observatory
- Author
-
J. Patrick Harding
- Subjects
Physics ,Annihilation ,astrophysics ,Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Dark matter ,Astrophysics::Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics ,Gamma ray ,Astronomy ,Cosmic ray ,anisotropy ,Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics ,Astrophysics ,Physics and Astronomy(all) ,dark matter ,Spectral line ,gamma rays ,cosmic rays ,Observatory ,Sky ,Cherenkov radiation ,media_common - Abstract
The High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory is a wide field-of-view detector sensitive to 100GeV - 100 TeV gamma rays and cosmic rays. Located at an elevation of 4100 m on the Sierra Negra mountain in Mexico, HAWC observes extensive air showers from gamma and cosmic rays with an array of water tanks which produce Cherenkov light in the presence of air showers. With a field-of-view capable of observing 2/3 of the sky each day, and a sensitivity of 1 Crab/day, HAWC will be able to map out the sky in gamma and cosmic rays in detail. In this paper, we discuss the capabilities of HAWC to map out the directions and spectra of TeV gamma rays and cosmic rays coming from sources of dark matter annihilation. We discuss the HAWC sensitivity to multiple extended sources of dark matter annihilation and the possibility of HAWC observations of annihilations in nearby dark matter subhalos.
- Published
- 2015