An All-Sky Search for Bursts of Very High Energy Gamma Rays with HAWC

Understand

A new ground-based wide-field extensive air shower array known as the High-Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Observatory promises a new window to monitoring the $\sim$100 GeV gamma-ray sky with the potential for detecting a high energy spectral cutoff in gamma-ray bursts (GRBs).

• It represents a roughly 15 times sensitivity gain over the previous generation of wide-field gamma-ray air shower instruments and is able to detect the Crab Nebula at high significance ($>$5 $\sigma$) with each daily transit.
• Its wide field-of-view ($\sim$2 sr) and $>$95% uptime make it an ideal instrument for detecting GRB emission at $\sim$100 GeV with an expectation for observing $\sim$1 GRB per year based on existing measurements of GRB emission.
• An all-sky, self-triggered search for VHE emission produced by GRBs with HAWC has been developed.