11-13 May 2021
Mexico/General timezone
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Contribution Talk

Astroparticle physics and Cosmology

Investigation of the Proton plus Helium cosmic ray spectrum in the 10 TeV - 126 TeV energy region with HAWC

Speakers

  • Dr. Juan Carlos ARTEAGA VELAZQUEZ

Primary authors

Co-authors

Content

The knowledge of the spectrum and the composition of cosmic rays with energies from $10$ TeV to $1$ PeV is very uncertain. Detail measurements on these quantities are needed if models on the origin, acceleration mechanism and propagation of galactic cosmic rays are to be tested. In this contribution we present a detail study on the most abundant component of cosmic rays around TeVs, i.e., protons and helium nuclei, using the High Altitude Water Cherenkov Observatory (HAWC). This experiment is an extensive air shower detector array composed of $300$ water Cherenkov detectors closely packed in an area of $22 000 \, m^2$. It is located at $4100 \, m$ a.s.l. at the Sierra Negra Volcano in Puebla, Mexico and it is dedicated to studying TeV astrophysical gamma rays. Yet, given its large coverage, its large surface and its location at high altitude, HAWC can also detect cosmic rays in the TeV regime. The analysis presented here is based on an unfolding technique applied to a subsample of measured data, which is dominated by proton and helium induced EAS. The subsample was selected using a cut on the shower age parameter and predictions of the QGSJET-II-04 hadronic interaction model for different cosmic ray primaries. The data was taken during four years of observation in the period from June 2015 to June 2019.

Contribution type

Oral