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)x10-12 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.
Recommended Citation
A. Albert et al., "Discovery Of Gamma Rays From The Quiescent Sun With HAWC," Physical Review Letters, vol. 131, no. 5, article no. 051201, American Physical Society, Aug 2023.
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.051201
Department(s)
Physics
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
1079-7114; 0031-9007
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2025 American Physical Society, All rights reserved.
Publication Date
04 Aug 2023
PubMed ID
37595214
Comments
National Science Foundation, Grant CIDEGENT/2018/034