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Blanco, O.

Publications and source records attributed to Blanco, O..

The High-Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory in México: The primary detector

The High-Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory is a second-generation continuously operated, wide field-of-view, TeV gamma-ray observatory. The HAWC observatory and its analysis techniques build on experience of the Milagro experiment in using ground-based water Cherenkov detectors for gamma-ray astronomy. HAWC is located on the Sierra Negra volcano in México at an elevation of 4100 meters above sea level. The completed HAWC observatory principal detector (HAWC) consists of 300 closely spaced water Cherenkov detectors, each equipped with four photomultiplier tubes to provide timing and charge information to reconstruct the extensive air shower energy and arrival direction. The HAWC observatory has been optimized to observe transient and steady emission from sources of gamma rays within an energy range from several hundred GeV to several hundred TeV. However, most of the air showers detected are initiated by cosmic rays, allowing studies of cosmic rays also to be performed. This paper describes the characteristics of the HAWC main array and its hardware.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

FCC-ee interaction region backgrounds

The FCC-ee machine induced backgrounds on the two proposed detectors (CLD and IDEA) have been studied in detail. Synchrotron Radiation (SR) considerations dictate the Interaction Region (IR) optimization. An asymmetric IR design limits the final bend critical energy to 100 keV. Masks placed before the final focus quadrupole protect the detector from direct hits, and a shield placed around the beam pipe from secondary particles, keeping the effect of SR on the detector to negligible levels. The most important source of background is expected to be the Incoherent Pair Creation (IPC). Its effect has been studied in full simulation and reconstruction, and it was shown that it will not pose a problem for the detector, even if conservative estimations for the time resolution of the detector sensors are assumed. Moreover, the γγ → hadrons, radiative Bhabhas and beam-gas interaction induced backgrounds were studied. All were found to have small to negligible effect on the detector. Finally overall, the FCC–ee interaction region backgrounds are not expected to compromise the detector performance.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗