HAWC J2227+610 and Its Association with G106.3+2.7, a New Potential Galactic PeVatron
A. Albert, R. Alfaro, C. Alvarez, J. R. Angeles Camacho, J. C. Arteaga-Velázquez, K. P. Arunbabu, D. Avila Rojas, H. A. Ayala Solares, V. Baghmanyan, E. Belmont-Moreno, S. Y. BenZvi, C. Brisbois, K. S. Caballero-Mora, T. Capistrán, A. Carramiñana, S. Casanova, U. Cotti, J. Cotzomi, S. Coutiño de León, E. De la Fuente, L. Diaz-Cruz, B. L. Dingus, M. A. DuVernois, J. C. Díaz-Vélez, R. W. Ellsworth, K. Engel, C. Espinoza, K. L. Fan, K. Fang, M. Fernández Alonso, H. Fleischhack, N. Fraija, A. Galván-Gámez, D. Garcia, J. A. García-González, F. Garfias, G. Giacinti, M. M. González, J. A. Goodman, J. P. Harding, S. Hernandez, J. Hinton, B. Hona, D. Huang, F. Hueyotl-Zahuantitla, P. Hüntemeyer, A. Iriarte, A. Jardin-Blicq, V. Joshi, W. H. Lee, H. León Vargas, J. T. Linnemann, A. L. Longinotti, G. Luis-Raya, J. Lundeen, K. Malone, S. S. Marinelli, O. Martinez, I. Martinez-Castellanos, J. Martínez-Castro, J. A. Matthews, P. Miranda-Romagnoli, J. A. Morales-Soto, E. Moreno, M. Mostafá, A. Nayerhoda, L. Nellen, M. Newbold, M. U. Nisa, R. Noriega-Papaqui, N. Omodei, A. Peisker, Y. Pérez Araujo, E. G. Pérez-Pérez, C. D. Rho, D. Rosa-González, E. Ruiz-Velasco, H. Salazar, F. Salesa Greus, A. Sandoval, M. Schneider, H. Schoorlemmer, J. Serna Franco, G. Sinnis, A. J. Smith, R. W. Springer, P. Surajbali, E. Tabachnick, M. Tanner, O. Tibolla, K. Tollefson, I. Torres, R. Torres-Escobedo, F. Ureña-Mena, L. Villaseñor, T. Weisgarber, A. Zepeda, H. Zhou, C. de León, J. D. Álvarez
Abstract
Abstract We present the detection of very-high-energy gamma-ray emission above 100 TeV from HAWC J2227+610 with the High-Altitude Water Cherenov Gamma-Ray Observatory (HAWC) observatory. Combining our observations with previously published results by the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERTIAS), we interpret the gamma-ray emission from HAWC J2227+610 as emission from protons with a lower limit in their cutoff energy of 800 TeV. The most likely source of the protons is the associated supernova remnant G106.3+2.7, making it a good candidate for a Galactic PeVatron. However, a purely leptonic origin of the observed emission cannot be excluded at this time.