Prospects for a multi-TeV gamma-ray sky survey with the LHAASO water Cherenkov detector array

Abstract

© 2020 Chinese Physical Society and the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Modern Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and IOP Publishing Ltd. The Water Cherenkov Detector Array (WCDA) is a major component of the Large High Altitude Air Shower Array Observatory (LHAASO), a new generation cosmic-ray experiment with unprecedented sensitivity, currently under construction. WCDA is aimed at the study of TeV γ-rays. In order to evaluate the prospects of searching for TeV γ-ray sources with WCDA, we present a projection of the one-year sensitivity of WCDA to TeV γ-ray sources from TeVCat using an all-sky approach. Out of 128 TeVCat sources observable by WCDA up to a zenith angle of*circ;, we estimate that 42 would be detectable in one year of observations at a median energy of 1 TeV. Most of them are Galactic sources, and the extragalactic sources are Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN).