Discovery of Gamma Rays from the Quiescent Sun with HAWC

Albert A, Alfaro R, Alvarez C, 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, Coutiño De León S, De La Fuente E, Diaz Hernandez R, Dingus BL, Duvernois MA, Durocher M, Díaz-Vélez JC, Ellsworth RW, Engel K, Espinoza C, Fan KL, Fang K, Fernández Alonso M, Fleischhack H, Fraija N, García-González JA, Garfias F, González MM, Goodman JA, Harding JP, Hernandez S, Hinton J, Huang D, Hueyotl-Zahuantitla F, Hüntemeyer P, Iriarte A, Joshi V, Kaufmann S, Lee J, Linnemann JT, Longinotti AL, Luis-Raya G, Malone K, Martinez O, Martínez-Castro J, Matthews JA, Miranda-Romagnoli P, Morales-Soto JA, Moreno E, Mostafá M, Nayerhoda A, Nellen L, Nisa MU, Noriega-Papaqui R, Olivera-Nieto L, Omodei N, Pérez Araujo Y, Pérez-Pérez EG, Rho CD, Rosa-González D, Ruiz-Velasco E, Salazar H, Salazar-Gallegos D, Sandoval A, Schneider M, Serna-Franco J, Smith AJ, Son Y, Springer RW, Tibolla O, Tollefson K, Torres I, Torres-Escobedo R, Turner R, Ureña-Mena F, Varela E, Villaseñor L, Wang X, Watson IJ, Willox E, Yun-Cárcamo S, Zhou H, De León C, Beacom JF, Linden T, Ng KC, Peter AH, Zhou B (2023)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2023

Journal

Book Volume: 131

Article Number: 051201

Journal Issue: 5

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.051201

Abstract

We report the first detection of a TeV γ-ray flux from the solar disk (6.3σ), based on 6.1 years of data from the High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory. The 0.5-2.6 TeV spectrum is well fit by a power law, dN/dE=A(E/1 TeV)-γ, with A=(1.6±0.3)×10-12 TeV-1 cm-2 s-1 and γ=3.62±0.14. The flux shows a strong indication of anticorrelation with solar activity. These results extend the bright, hard GeV emission from the disk observed with Fermi-LAT, seemingly due to hadronic Galactic cosmic rays showering on nuclei in the solar atmosphere. However, current theoretical models are unable to explain the details of how solar magnetic fields shape these interactions. HAWC's TeV detection thus deepens the mysteries of the solar-disk emission.

Authors with CRIS profile

Involved external institutions

Los Alamos National Laboratory United States (USA) (US) 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 PAN / Instytut Fizyki Jądrowej im. Henryka Niewodniczańskiego PAN 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) University of Wisconsin - Madison United States (USA) (US) Universidad de Guadalajara (UDEG) Mexico (MX) Catholic University of America United States (USA) (US) Tecnológico de Monterrey (ITESM) Mexico (MX) Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik (MPIK) / Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics Germany (DE) Universidad Politécnica de Pachuca (UPP) Mexico (MX) University of Seoul (UOS) / 서울시립대학교 Korea, Republic of (KR) Michigan State University 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) Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU) Korea, Republic of (KR) University of New Mexico (UNM) / Universidad de Nuevo México United States (USA) (US) Ohio State University United States (USA) (US) University of Utah United States (USA) (US) Shanghai Jiao Tong University / 上海交通大学 China (CN) The Oskar Klein Centre Sweden (SE) The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) China (CN) Johns Hopkins University (JHU) United States (USA) (US)

How to cite

APA:

Albert, A., Alfaro, R., Alvarez, C., Arteaga-Velázquez, J.C., Avila Rojas, D., Ayala Solares, H.A.,... Zhou, B. (2023). Discovery of Gamma Rays from the Quiescent Sun with HAWC. Physical Review Letters, 131(5). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.051201

MLA:

Albert, A., et al. "Discovery of Gamma Rays from the Quiescent Sun with HAWC." Physical Review Letters 131.5 (2023).

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