VERITAS: HAWC's Neighbour to the North

TL;DR

This paper reviews VERITAS's scientific achievements since 2007 and discusses its complementarity with HAWC, highlighting their combined potential for advancing gamma-ray astronomy.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of VERITAS's evolution and its collaborative potential with HAWC and other observatories for gamma-ray studies.

Findings

VERITAS has achieved significant scientific milestones since 2007.

HAWC and VERITAS can observe the same sky regions simultaneously.

Combined observations enhance gamma-ray sky coverage and understanding.

Abstract

This paper summarizes a presentation given on the occasion of the inauguration of the High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Gamma-ray Observatory in Puebla, Mexico in March 2015. The inauguration of a new facility for the study of astrophysical gamma-rays provides an excellent opportunity to review the technical evolution and the scientific achievements of VERITAS (the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System) since its own inauguration in 2007. HAWC and VERITAS are separated by only 14 degrees in longitude, and so can view much of the same sky at the same time. In combination with other ground-based facilities, and with the instruments onboard the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, VERITAS and HAWC will give an unprecedented view of the gamma-ray sky. We provide an overview of VERITAS, and discuss the complementarity of the two observatories for future gamma-ray observations.