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Title: Observation of the Crab Nebula with the HAWC Gamma-Ray Observatory

Journal Article · · The Astrophysical Journal (Online)
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The Crab Nebula is the brightest TeV gamma-ray source in the sky and has been used for the past 25 years as a reference source in TeV astronomy, for calibration and verification of new TeV instruments. Similarly, the High Altitude Water Cherenkov Observatory (HAWC), completed in early 2015, has been used to observe the Crab Nebula at high significance across nearly the full spectrum of energies to which HAWC is sensitive. HAWC is unique for its wide field of view, nearly 2 sr at any instant, and its high-energy reach, up to 100 TeV. HAWC's sensitivity improves with the gamma-ray energy. Above ~1 TeV the sensitivity is driven by the best background rejection and angular resolution ever achieved for a wide-field ground array. Here, we introduce a time-integrated analysis of the Crab using 507 live days of HAWC data from 2014 November to 2016 June. The spectrum of the Crab is fit to a function of the form $$\phi {(E)={\phi }_{0}(E/{E}_{0})}^{-\alpha -\beta \cdot \mathrm{ln}(E/{E}_{0})}$$. The data is well fitted with values of α = 2.63 ± 0.03, β = 0.15 ± 0.03, and $${\mathrm{log}}_{10}({\phi }_{0}\,{\mathrm{cm}}^{2}\,{\rm{s}}\,\mathrm{TeV})=-12.60\pm 0.02$$ when E 0 is fixed at 7 TeV and the fit applies between 1 and 37 TeV. Study of the systematic errors in this HAWC measurement is discussed and estimated to be ±50% in the photon flux between 1 and 37 TeV. Confirmation of the Crab flux serves to establish the HAWC instrument's sensitivity for surveys of the sky. The HAWC all-sky survey will be the deepest survey of the northern sky ever conducted in the multi-TeV band.

Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC). High Energy Physics (HEP) (SC-25); USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
Contributing Organization:
HAWC Collaboration
Grant/Contract Number:
89233218CNA000001
OSTI ID:
1565859
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-18-29820; TRN: US2000912
Journal Information:
The Astrophysical Journal (Online), Vol. 843, Issue 1; ISSN 1538-4357
Publisher:
Institute of Physics (IOP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 105 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (35)

Multiwavelength follow-up of a rare IceCube neutrino multiplet journal November 2017
A search for dark matter in the Galactic halo with HAWC journal February 2018
Novel gamma-ray signatures of PeV-scale dark matter journal April 2018
Searching for dark matter sub-structure with HAWC journal July 2019
Prospects for the characterization of the VHE emission from the Crab nebula and pulsar with the Cherenkov Telescope Array journal December 2019
Multimessenger observations of a flaring blazar coincident with high-energy neutrino IceCube-170922A journal July 2018
All-Sky Measurement of the Anisotropy of Cosmic Rays at 10 TeV and Mapping of the Local Interstellar Magnetic Field text January 2018
Monitoring the Extragalactic High Energy Sky journal January 2019
AMON Multimessenger Alerts: Past and Future journal January 2019
Constraints to Dark Matter Annihilation from High-Latitude HAWC Unidentified Sources journal December 2019
The 2HWC HAWC Observatory Gamma-Ray Catalog journal June 2017
Dark Matter Limits from Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies with the HAWC Gamma-Ray Observatory journal February 2018
Observation of Anisotropy of TeV Cosmic Rays with Two Years of HAWC journal September 2018
Secondary Radio and X-Ray Emissions from Galaxy Mergers journal June 2019
Measurement of the Crab Nebula Spectrum Past 100 TeV with HAWC journal August 2019
Multi-messenger Observations of a Binary Neutron Star Merger journal October 2017
Prospects for the characterization of the VHE emission from the Crab Nebula and Pulsar with the Cherenkov Telescope Array text January 2019
All-sky Measurement of the Anisotropy of Cosmic Rays at 10 TeV and Mapping of the Local Interstellar Magnetic Field journal January 2019
Multiwavelength follow-up of a rare IceCube neutrino multiplet text January 2017
All-Sky Measurement of the Anisotropy of Cosmic Rays at 10 TeV and Mapping of the Local Interstellar Magnetic Field text January 2019
Multi-messenger Observations of a Binary Neutron Star Merger text January 2017
Multi-messenger Observations of a Binary Neutron Star Merger text January 2017
Resolving the Crab pulsar wind nebula at teraelectronvolt energies text January 2019
Multi-messenger Observations of a Binary Neutron Star Merger text January 2017
The 2HWC HAWC Observatory Gamma Ray Catalog text January 2017
Multiwavelength follow-up of a rare IceCube neutrino multiplet text January 2017
Dark Matter Limits From Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies with The HAWC Gamma-Ray Observatory text January 2017
A Search for Dark Matter in the Galactic Halo with HAWC text January 2017
Unexpected Dip in the Solar Gamma-Ray Spectrum text January 2018
Constraints on Spin-Dependent Dark Matter Scattering with Long-Lived Mediators from TeV Observations of the Sun with HAWC text January 2018
Secondary Radio and X-ray Emissions from Galaxy Mergers text January 2018
Searching for Dark Matter Sub-structure with HAWC text January 2018
Measurement of the Crab Nebula Spectrum Past 100 TeV with HAWC text January 2019
First Detection of Photons with Energy Beyond 100 TeV from an Astrophysical Source text January 2019
Constraints to dark matter annihilation from high-latitude HAWC unidentified sources text January 2020

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