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Abstract Axion-like particles (ALPs) are hypothetical particles and compelling candidates for cold dark matter. Their existence could be probed through their conversions into photons in the presence of magnetic fields. In this work, we explore the effect of these photon-ALP conversions by searching for an attenuation in the observed gamma ray spectra of galactic sources that emit at energies of hundreds of TeV. We analyze data from the High-Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Observatory for the source 3HWC J1908+063. No evidence of photon-ALP conversions was found, and we set constraints on the ALP parameter space. Specifically, we derive exclusion limits for ALPs with masses in the range 10^-8 eV ≤m_a≤ 10^-6 eV and photon-ALP couplings in the range 10^-12 GeV^-1≤g_aγ≤ 10^-10 GeV^-1, based on HAWC observations. 

The High-Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Observatory, located on the slopes of the Sierra Negra volcano in Mexico, began operations in March 2015. Over the past decade, HAWC has enabled the exploration of a broad range of topics in high-energy astrophysics and particle physics, resulting in more than 90 peer-reviewed publications. These studies have significantly advanced our understanding of several previously unexplored and poorly understood phenomena in the TeV energy regime. The present work provides an overview of the key scientific contributions of HAWC during its first ten years of operation. 

Abstract Supernova remnants are one potential source class considered a PeVatron (i.e., capable of accelerating cosmic rays above PeV energies). The shock fronts produced after the explosion of the supernova are ideal regions for particle acceleration. IC 443 is a supernova remnant that has been studied extensively at different wavelengths. Using 2966 days of gamma-ray data from the High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory, we study the emission of IC 443 with the objective of finding signatures of cosmic-ray acceleration at the PeV scale. Using a maximum likelihood method, we find a point source located at (α= 94 $\stackrel{\text{°}}{.}$ 42,δ= 22 $\stackrel{\text{°}}{.}$ 35) that we associate with IC 443. The measured spectrum is a simple power law with an index of −3.14 ± 0.18, which is consistent with previous TeV observations. Although we cannot confirm that IC 443 is a hadronic PeVatron, we do not find any sign that the spectrum has a cutoff at tens of TeV energies, with the spectrum extending to ∼30 TeV. Furthermore, we also find a new extended component in the region whose emission is described by a simple power law with an index of −2.49 ± 0.08 and which we call HAWC J0615+2213. While we show evidence that this new source might be a new TeV halo, we defer a detailed analysis of this new source to another publication. 

Abstract The HAWC Observatory collected 6 yr of extensive data, providing an ideal platform for long-term monitoring of blazars in the very high energy (VHE) band, without bias toward specific flux states. HAWC continuously monitors blazar activity at TeV energies, focusing on sources with a redshift ofz≤ 0.3, based on the Third Fermi-LAT Catalog of High-Energy sources. We specifically focused our analysis on Mrk 421 and Mrk 501, as they are the brightest blazars observed by the HAWC Observatory. With a data set of 2143 days, this work significantly extends the monitoring previously published, which was based on 511 days of observation. By utilizing HAWC data for the VHEγ-ray emission in the 300 GeV–100 TeV energy range, in conjunction with Swift-XRT data for the 0.3–10 keV X-ray emission, we aim to explore potential correlations between these two bands. For Mrk 501, we found evidence of a long-term correlation. Additionally, we identified a period in the light curve where the flux was very low for more than 2 yr. On the other hand, our analysis of Mrk 421 measured a strong linear correlation for quasi-simultaneous observations collected by HAWC and Swift-XRT. This result is consistent with a linear dependence and a multiple-zone synchrotron self-Compton model to explain the X-ray andγ-ray emission. Finally, as suggested by previous findings, we confirm a harder-when-brighter behavior in the spectral evolution of the flux properties for Mrk 421. These findings contribute to the understanding of blazar emissions and their underlying mechanisms. 

Abstract Very-high-energy (0.1–100 TeV) gamma-ray emissions were observed in High-Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) data from the lobes of the microquasar SS 433, making them the first set of astrophysical jets that were resolved at TeV energies. In this work, we update the analysis of SS 433 using 2565 days of data from the HAWC observatory. Our analysis reports the detection of a point-like source in the east lobe at a significance of 6.6σand in the west lobe at a significance of 8.2σ. For each jet lobe, we localize the gamma-ray emission and identify a best-fit position. The locations are close to the X-ray emission sites “e1” and “w1” for the east and west lobes, respectively. We analyze the spectral energy distributions and find that the energy spectra of the lobes are consistent with a simple power lawdN/dE∝E^αwith $\alpha =-{2.44}_{-0.12-0.04}^{+0.13+0.04}$ and $\alpha =-{2.35}_{-0.11-0.03}^{+0.12+0.03}$ for the east and west lobes, respectively. The maximum energy of photons from the east and west lobes reaches 56 TeV and 123 TeV, respectively. We compare our observations to various models and conclude that the very-high-energy gamma-ray emission can be produced by a population of electrons that were efficiently accelerated.