Milagro limits and HAWC sensitivity for the rate-density of evaporating Primordial Black Holes

A. A. Abdo, A. U. Abeysekara, R. Alfaro, B. T. Allen, C. Alvarez, J. D. Álvarez, R. Arceo, J. C. Arteaga-Velázquez, T. Aune, H. A. Ayala Solares, A. S. Barber, B. M. Baughman, N. Bautista-Elivar, J. Becerra Gonzalez, E. Belmont, S. Y. Benzvi, D. Berley, M. Bonilla Rosales, J. Braun, R. A. Caballero-LopezK. S. Caballero-Mora, A. Carramiñana, M. Castillo, G. E. Christopher, U. Cotti, J. Cotzomi, E. De La Fuente, C. De León, T. Deyoung, R. Diaz Hernandez, L. Diaz-Cruz, J. C. Díaz-Vélez, B. L. Dingus, M. A. Duvernois, R. W. Ellsworth, D. W. Fiorino, N. Fraija, A. Galindo, F. Garfias, M. M. González, J. A. Goodman, V. Grabski, M. Gussert, Z. Hampel-Arias, J. P. Harding, E. Hays, C. M. Hoffman, C. M. Hui, P. Hüntemeyer, A. Imran, A. Iriarte, P. Karn, D. Kieda, B. E. Kolterman, G. J. Kunde, A. Lara, R. J. Lauer, W. H. Lee, D. Lennarz, H. León Vargas, E. C. Linares, J. T. Linnemann, M. Longo, R. Luna-Garcia, J. H. Macgibbon, A. Marinelli, S. S. Marinelli, H. Martinez, O. Martinez, J. Martínez-Castro, J. A.J. Matthews, J. McEnery, E. Mendoza Torres, A. I. Mincer, P. Miranda-Romagnoli, E. Moreno, T. Morgan, M. Mostafá, L. Nellen, P. Nemethy, M. Newbold, R. Noriega-Papaqui, T. Oceguera-Becerra, B. Patricelli, R. Pelayo, E. G. Pérez-Pérez, J. Pretz, C. Rivière, D. Rosa-González, E. Ruiz-Velasco, J. Ryan, H. Salazar, F. Salesa, A. Sandoval, P. M. Saz Parkinson, M. Schneider, S. Silich, G. Sinnis, A. J. Smith, D. Stump, K. Sparks Woodle, R. W. Springer, I. Taboada, P. A. Toale, K. Tollefson, I. Torres, T. N. Ukwatta, V. Vasileiou, L. Villaseñor, T. Weisgarber, S. Westerhoff, D. A. Williams, I. G. Wisher, J. Wood, G. B. Yodh, P. W. Younk, D. Zaborov, A. Zepeda, H. Zhou

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) are gravitationally collapsed objects that may have been created by density fluctuations in the early universe and could have arbitrarily small masses down to the Planck scale. Hawking showed that due to quantum effects, a black hole has a temperature inversely proportional to its mass and will emit all species of fundamental particles thermally. PBHs with initial masses of ∼5.0 × 1014 g should be expiring in the present epoch with bursts of high-energy particles, including gamma radiation in the GeV-TeV energy range. The Milagro high energy observatory, which operated from 2000 to 2008, is sensitive to the high end of the PBH evaporation gamma-ray spectrum. Due to its large field-of-view, more than 90% duty cycle and sensitivity up to 100 TeV gamma rays, the Milagro observatory is well suited to perform a search for PBH bursts. Based on a search on the Milagro data, we report new PBH burst rate density upper limits over a range of PBH observation times. In addition, we report the sensitivity of the Milagro successor, the High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory, to PBH evaporation events.

    Original languageEnglish (US)
    Pages (from-to)4-12
    Number of pages9
    JournalAstroparticle Physics
    Volume64
    DOIs
    StatePublished - Apr 2015

    Keywords

    • HAWC
    • Milagro
    • Primordial Black Holes
    • Very High Energy Bursts

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Astronomy and Astrophysics

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