New method for Gamma/Hadron separation in HAWC using neural networks

Understand

The High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) gamma-ray observatory is located at an altitude of 4100 meters in Sierra Negra, Puebla, Mexico.

• HAWC is an air shower array of 300 water Cherenkov detectors (WCD's), each with 4 photomultiplier tubes (PMTs).
• Because the observatory is sensitive to air showers produced by cosmic rays and gamma rays, one of the main tasks in the analysis of gamma-ray sources is gamma/hadron separation for the suppression of the cosmic-ray background.
• Currently, HAWC uses a method called compactness for the separation.