Comprehensive Multi-Timespan Analysis of Known AGN

Abstract

Only two sources of Very High Energy (VHE) gamma-rays (~50 GeV to ~10 TeV) from outside of the Milky Way have been detected by the High-Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory. Although varying timescale analyses have been performed, a complete search of all multi-day time scales has not been executed. The primary sources of extragalactic VHE gamma-rays are Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), supermassive blackholes at the center of other galaxies, actively feeding on matter. I propose a comprehensive analysis of known AGN in all multi-day time scales since HAWC began operations. Such an analysis would allow for limits to be placed on the frequency of AGN flares, and improve our understanding of AGN in the VHE regime. In order to determine the significance of the flux received, a False Alarm Rate (FAR) must first be established by analyzing the significance distribution of pseudomaps created by poisson fluctuating the background. This step requires the bulk of computing time and is nearly complete. The next step will be to run the program to determine the significance of known AGN on a comprehensive set of timescales.