Search for seasonal variations of the horizontal muon rate with the HAWC observatory

Year: 2025

Type: conference-paper

Abstract: The High-Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory was designed to study gamma-ray sources in the energy range between a few hundred GeV up to few hundred TeV. It is composed of 300 Water Cherenkov Detectors (WCDs) that cover a surface of approximately 22000 m$^{2}$, at 4100 m a.s.l. In this study, we use the HAWC WCDs as a very large horizontal particle tracker, searching for horizontal muon rate variations by season using 1.5 years of HAWC data. We look for a possible correlation between the effective temperature and the horizontal muon rate. In order to do this, we developed a method to calculate the effective temperature for the horizontal propagation of muons. This is the first time that a search for seasonal variations in the high-altitude horizontal muon rate is reported.

Source: International Cosmic Ray Conference

DOI: 10.22323/1.501.0316

Authors: Hermes Leon Vargas, Cindy Castellón

Institution: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Language: English

Topic: Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena

Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Funders: National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, European Commission, National Research Foundation, Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, National Research Foundation of Korea, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Office of National Higher Education Science Research and Innovation Policy Council, Goddard Space Flight Center, Dirección General de Asuntos del Personal Académico, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Coordinación de la Investigación Científica, Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, University of Tokyo, Laboratory Directed Research and Development, Los Alamos National Laboratory

OpenAlex ID: W4414438131