Gamma/hadron separation with the HAWC observatory

Alfaro R, Alvarez C, Álvarez JD, Angeles Camacho JR, Arteaga-Velázquez JC, Avila Rojas D, Ayala Solares HA, Babu R, Belmont-Moreno E, Brisbois C, Caballero-Mora KS, Capistrán T, Carramiñana A, Casanova S, Chaparro-Amaro O, Cotti U, Cotzomi J, de León SC, De la Fuente E, de León C, Diaz Hernandez R, Dingus BL, DuVernois MA, Durocher M, Díaz-Vélez JC, Ellsworth RW, Engel K, Espinoza C, Fan KL, Fernández Alonso M, Fraija N, Garcia D, García-González JA, Garfias F, González MM, Goodman JA, Harding JP, Hernandez S, Hona B, Huang D, Hueyotl-Zahuantitla F, Hüntemeyer P, Iriarte A, Jardin-Blicq A, Joshi V, Kaufmann S, Kunde GJ, Lara A, Lee WH, Lee J, León Vargas H, Linnemann JT, Luis-Raya G, Lundeen J, Malone K, Marandon V, Martinez O, Martínez-Castro J, Matthews JA, Miranda-Romagnoli P, Morales-Soto JA, Nayerhoda A, Nellen L, Nisa MU, Noriega-Papaqui R, Olivera-Nieto L, Omodei N, Peisker A, Pérez Araujo Y, Pérez-Pérez EG, Rho CD, Rosa-González D, Ruiz-Velasco E, Salazar H, Salesa Greus F, Sandoval A, Saz Parkinson PM, Serna-Franco J, Smith AJ, Springer RW, Tibolla O, Tollefson K, Torres I, Torres-Escobedo R, Turner R, Ureña-Mena F, Villaseñor L, Wang X, Watson IJ, Werner F, Willox E, Wood J, Zepeda A, Zhou H (2022)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2022

Journal

Book Volume: 1039

Article Number: 166984

DOI: 10.1016/j.nima.2022.166984

Abstract

The High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) gamma-ray observatory observes atmospheric showers produced by incident gamma rays and cosmic rays with energy from 300 GeV to more than 100 TeV. A crucial phase in analyzing gamma-ray sources using ground-based gamma-ray detectors like HAWC is to identify the showers produced by gamma rays or hadrons. The HAWC observatory records roughly 25,000 events per second, with hadrons representing the vast majority (>99.9%) of these events. The standard gamma/hadron separation technique in HAWC uses a simple rectangular cut involving only two parameters. This work describes the implementation of more sophisticated gamma/hadron separation techniques, via machine learning methods (boosted decision trees and neural networks), and summarizes the resulting improvements in gamma/hadron separation obtained in HAWC.

Authors with CRIS profile

Involved external institutions

National Autonomous University of Mexico / Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) Mexico (MX) Universidad Autónoma de Chiapas (UNACH) Mexico (MX) Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo (UMSNH) Mexico (MX) Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) United States (USA) (US) Michigan Technological University United States (USA) (US) University of Maryland United States (USA) (US) National Institute of Astrophysics, Optics and Electronics / Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrónica (INAOE) Mexico (MX) Institute of Nuclear Physics Polish Academy of Sciences / Instytut Fizyki Jądrowej im. Henryka Niewodniczańskiego Polskiej Akademii Nauk Poland (PL) National Polytechnic Institute of Mexico / Instituto Politécnico Nacional de México Mexico (MX) Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla (BUAP) / Meritorious Autonomous University of Puebla Mexico (MX) Universidad de Guadalajara (UDEG) Mexico (MX) Los Alamos National Laboratory United States (USA) (US) University of Wisconsin - Madison United States (USA) (US) Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik (MPIK) / Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics Germany (DE) Universidad Politécnica de Pachuca (UPP) Mexico (MX) Tecnológico de Monterrey (ITESM) Mexico (MX) University of Utah United States (USA) (US) University of Seoul (UOS) / 서울시립대학교 Korea, Republic of (KR) Michigan State University United States (USA) (US) University of New Mexico (UNM) / Universidad de Nuevo México United States (USA) (US) Autonomous University of the State of Hidalgo / Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo Mexico (MX) Stanford University United States (USA) (US) Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics United States (USA) (US) Shanghai Jiao Tong University / 上海交通大学 China (CN) National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) United States (USA) (US) Center for Research and Advanced Studies of the National Polytechnic Institute / Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional (CINVESTAV-IPN) Mexico (MX)

How to cite

APA:

Alfaro, R., Alvarez, C., Álvarez, J.D., Angeles Camacho, J.R., Arteaga-Velázquez, J.C., Avila Rojas, D.,... Zhou, H. (2022). Gamma/hadron separation with the HAWC observatory. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, 1039. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2022.166984

MLA:

Alfaro, R., et al. "Gamma/hadron separation with the HAWC observatory." Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment 1039 (2022).

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