ABSTRACT

For the past 2 decades, high-energy gamma-ray astronomy has grown to be one of the most prolific fields in astrophysics, increasing our knowledge on a variety of astrophysical sources, as well as our understanding in the production and propagation of cosmic rays. The High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Observatory has been observing the Northern TeV gamma-ray sky since 2014. It is an instrument that can perform unbiased surveys thanks to its high-duty cycle (>90%) and large field of view (~2sr). During this talk, I will summarize the nine years of science performed by HAWC. Topics include the first catalog of astrophysical sources emitting above 100 TeV, the discovery of a new class of Galactic sources known as TeV halos, the detection of several TeV gamma-ray binaries, the first detection on TeV gamma rays from the Sun and searches for dark matter. I will also present the efforts of HAWC's multimessenger and multiwavelength programs, which include searches for GRBs, follow-ups of gravitational wave alerts, and joint analyses with other multiwavelength and multimessenger instruments.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Hugo Ayala is an Assistant Research Professor at the Pennsylvania State University. He obtained his doctorate in 2017 from Michigan Technological University under the advice of Dr. Petra Huntemeyer. Dr. Ayala is a member of the HAWC and SWGO collaborations. He is also a member of the AMON group and an associate member of IceCube. His scientific topic interests include Fermi Bubbles, Molecular Clouds GRBs, and multimessenger astrophysics including the follow up of gravitational waves and neutrinos.