On the sensitivity of the HAWC observatory to gamma-ray bursts

We present the sensitivity of HAWC to Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs). HAWC is a very high-energy gamma-ray observatory currently under construction in Mexico at an altitude of 4100 m. It will observe atmospheric air showers via the water Cherenkov method. HAWC will consist of 300 large water tanks instrumented with 4 photomultipliers each. HAWC has two data acquisition (DAQ) systems. The main DAQ system reads out coincident signals in the tanks and reconstructs the direction and energy of individual atmospheric showers. The scaler DAQ counts the hits in each photomultiplier tube (PMT) in the detector and searches for a statistical excess over the noise of all PMTs. We show that HAWC has a realistic opportunity to observe the high-energy power law components of GRBs that extend at least up to 30 GeV, as it has been observed by Fermi LAT. The two DAQ systems have an energy threshold that is low enough to observe events similar to GRB 090510 and GRB 090902b with the characteristics observed by Fermi LAT. HAWC will provide information about the high-energy spectra of GRBs which in turn could help to understanding about e-pair attenuation in GRB jets, extragalactic background light absorption, as well as establishing the highest energy to which GRBs accelerate particles

Weakly coupled parametrically forced oscillator networks: existence, stability, and symmetry of solutions

In this paper, we discuss existence, stability, and symmetry of solutions for networks of parametrically forced oscillators. We consider a nonlinear oscillator model with strong 2:1 resonance via parametric excitation. For uncoupled systems, the 2:1 resonance property results in sets of solutions that we classify using a combinatorial approach. The symmetry properties for solution sets are presented as are the group operators that generate the isotropy subgroups. We then impose weak coupling and prove that solutions from the uncoupled case persist for small coupling by using an appropriate Poincaré map and the Implicit Function Theorem. Solution bifurcations are investigated as a function of coupling strength and forcing frequency using numerical continuation techniques. We find that the characteristics of the single oscillator system are transferred to the network under weak coupling. We explore interesting dynamics that emerge with larger coupling strength, including anti-synchronized chaos and unsynchronized chaos. A classification for the symmetry-breaking that occurs due to weak coupling is presented for a simple example network