HAWC work at CSU

Because an image is worth more than a thousand words... Enjoy our work!

Main contributions: fabrication of bladders, setup of a full-size Water Cherenkov Detector at CSU, development of software and analysis tools.

Production of bladders

We have setup a bladder factory off-campus in mid-2011. We are currently producing 4 bladders per week. The new CSU design includes PMT mounts for wet deployment, strenching ring loops at the bottom, and also a new design for the hatch.

Bladder factory

New HAWC bladder factory at CSU.

Bladder factory

Ad-hoc tables for the tops and bottoms of the bladders.

Bladder factory

Long table to weld together the sides of the bladders. The welder runs on a rail so that the material does not move.

Bladder factory

The design of the factory follows the "flow" of the material. We also have enough room to test on site.

Prototype Water Cherenkov Detector

We have a full-size WCD prototype at CSU to test all the different components of HAWC. It has been fully operational since March 2011. We re-deploy the new design bladder, and the new roof in April 2012. We are currently taking data with 7 PMTs, four scintillators burried underground, and the full laser calibration system.

Roof installation

Installation of the new roof on the CSU prototype.

CSU WCD - Apr 2012

WCD reployed in April 2012.

Lab work

We currently have three labs going for different components. Local slang: D218 (Miguel's lab), E10 (the HEPPA lab), and Weber 10 (the new lab).

Calibration & others tests (D218)

John Matthews (UNM), and Petra Hüntemeyer (MTU) came to do some first test with the laser calibration for the HAWC PMTs.

Megan, Dave, Petra, and John working on the laser calibration tests in D218.

Four students from Harvey Mudd College came (with Brenda and Michael) to work at CSU. Among other engineering fun tasks, they're working on the design of the weights for the PMTs.

Preliminary tests on the first PMT weights.

Fabrication of HAWC bladders (Weber 10)

Using the Auger experience, we're planning on fabricating the bladders for HAWC.

In Weber 10 (our new lab) we'll setup the first factory to build the first few bladders. (~July, 2010.)

Dave testing seams in E10.

As an undergaduate project, Mark built several small-scale welding machines. The preliminary tests were very successful! Bring on the big bladders!

Bladder fab status in Oct 2010. Getting ready to produce the first liners.

Paddles & Muon Telescope (E 10)

As an undergraduate project, Petra built a muon telescope with four scintillators in coincidence.

Petra cut the plastic paddles, attach them to the PMTs, build the bases for the PMTs, setup the coincidence circuit, and build the support structure for the four paddles.

Currently working on

  • Analysis of laser calibration data
  • Muon trigger
  • GRB analysis
  • Calibration using cosmic ray data
  • Event display