The Charge Collection Properties of CVD Diamond

The charge collection properties of CVD diamond have been investigated with ionising radiation. In this study two CVD diamond samples, prepared with electrical contacts have been used as solid state ionisation chambers. The diamonds have been studied with beta particles and 10 keV photons, providing a homogeneous ionisation density and with protons and alpha particles which are absorbed in a thin surface layer. For the latter case a strong decrease of the signal as function of time is observed, which is attributed to polarisation effects inside the diamond. Spatially resolved measurements with protons show a large variation of the charge collection efficiency, whereas for photons and minimum ionising particles the response is much more uniform and in the order of 18%. These results indicate that the applicability of CVD diamond as a position sensitive particle detector depends on the ionisation type and appears to be promising for homogeneous ionisation densities as provided by relativistic charged particles.Comment: 26 pages (Latex), submitted to NIM

The gamma-ray sky as seen with HAWC

© Owned by the authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2015. The High-Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) TeV Gamma-Ray Observatory located at a site about two hours drive east of Puebla, Mexico on the Sierra Negra plateau (4100 m a.s.l.) was inaugurated in March 2015. The array of 300 water Cherenkov detectors can observe large portions of the sky simultaneously and, with an energy range of 100 GeV to 100 TeV, is currently one of the most sensitive instruments capable of probing particle acceleration near PeV energies. HAWC has already started science operation in the Summer of 2013 and preliminary sky maps have been produced from 260 days of data taken with a partial array. Multiple \u3e 5 σ (pre-trials) hotspots are visible along the galactic plane and some appear to coincide with known TeV sources from the H.E.S.S. catalog, SNRs and molecular cloud associations, and pulsars wind nebulae (PWNe). The sky maps based on partial HAWC array data are discussed as well as the scientific potential of the completed instrument especially in the context of multi-wavelengths studies

Measuring TeV GammaRay Diffuse Emission from the Galactic Plane with Milagro

Abstract: Diffuse gamma radiation produced in the interaction of cosmic-ray particles with matter and radiation in the Galaxy can be used for probing the origin of cosmic rays. With its large field of view and long observation time the Milagro Gamma-Ray Observatory -a water Cherenkov detector in New Mexico, USA -is an ideal instrument for surveying large regions of the Northern Hemisphere sky and for detecting diffuse gamma ray emission at the highest energies. In this paper, we discuss the diffuse emission from the galaxy as visible from the Northern Hemisphere. In this region, the experiment has previously observed eight sources or source candidates respectively at a median energy of 20 TeV with a pre-trials significance of > 4.5 standard deviation

Constraints on Lorentz Invariance Violation from HAWC Observations of Gamma Rays above 100 TeV.

Because of the high energies and long distances to the sources, astrophysical observations provide a unique opportunity to test possible signatures of Lorentz invariance violation (LIV). Superluminal LIV enables the decay of photons at high energy. The high altitude water Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory is among the most sensitive gamma-ray instruments currently operating above 10 TeV. HAWC finds evidence of 100 TeV photon emission from at least four astrophysical sources. These observations exclude, for the strongest of the limits set, the LIV energy scale to 2.2×10^{31}  eV, over 1800 times the Planck energy and an improvement of 1 to 2 orders of magnitude over previous limits

HAWC and Fermi-LAT detection of extended emission from the unidentified source 2HWC J2006+341

The discovery of the TeV point source 2HWC J2006+341 was reported in the second HAWC gamma-ray catalog. We present a follow-up study of this source here. The TeV emission is best described by an extended source with a soft spectrum. At GeV energies, an extended source is significantly detected in Fermi-LAT data. The matching locations, sizes, and spectra suggest that both gamma-ray detections correspond to the same source. Different scenarios for the origin of the emission are considered and we rule out an association to the pulsar PSR J2004+3429 due to extreme energetics required, if located at a distance of 10.8 kpc.Universidad de Costa Rica/[112-B9-171]/UCR/Costa RicaUniversidad de Costa Rica/[112-B6-509]/UCR/Costa RicaUniversidad de Costa Rica/[829-B5-198]/UCR/Costa RicaUCR::Vicerrectoría de Docencia::Ciencias Básicas::Facultad de Ciencias::Escuela de Físic

The High-Altitude water cherenkov (HAWC) observatory in México: The primary detector

The High-Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory is a second-generation continuously operated, wide field-of-view, TeV gamma-ray observatory. The HAWC observatory and its analysis techniques build on experience of the Milagro experiment in using ground-based water Cherenkov detectors for gamma-ray astronomy. HAWC is located on the Sierra Negra volcano in México at an elevation of 4100 meters above sea level. The completed HAWC observatory principal detector (HAWC) consists of 300 closely spaced water Cherenkov detectors, each equipped with four photomultiplier tubes to provide timing and charge information to reconstruct the extensive air shower energy and arrival direction. The HAWC observatory has been optimized to observe transient and steady emission from sources of gamma rays within an energy range from several hundred GeV to several hundred TeV. However, most of the air showers detected are initiated by cosmic rays, allowing studies of cosmic rays also to be performed. This paper describes the characteristics of the HAWC main array and its hardware.UCR::Vicerrectoría de Docencia::Ciencias Básicas::Facultad de Ciencias::Escuela de Físic

Combined dark matter searches towards dwarf spheroidal galaxies with Fermi-LAT, HAWC, H.E.S.S., MAGIC, and VERITAS

Cosmological and astrophysical observations suggest that 85\% of the total matter of the Universe is made of Dark Matter (DM). However, its nature remains one of the most challenging and fundamental open questions of particle physics. Assuming particle DM, this exotic form of matter cannot consist of Standard Model (SM) particles. Many models have been developed to attempt unraveling the nature of DM such as Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), the most favored particle candidates. WIMP annihilations and decay could produce SM particles which in turn hadronize and decay to give SM secondaries such as high energy $\gamma$ rays. In the framework of indirect DM search, observations of promising targets are used to search for signatures of DM annihilation. Among these, the dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) are commonly favored owing to their expected high DM content and negligible astrophysical background. In this work, we present the very first combination of 20 dSph observations, performed by the Fermi-LAT, HAWC, H.E.S.S., MAGIC, and VERITAS collaborations in order to maximize the sensitivity of DM searches and improve the current results. We use a joint maximum likelihood approach combining each experiment's individual analysis to derive more constraining upper limits on the WIMP DM self-annihilation cross-section as a function of DM particle mass. We present new DM constraints over the widest mass range ever reported, extending from 5 GeV to 100 TeV thanks to the combination of these five different $\gamma$-ray instruments