The Southern Wide-field Gamma-ray Observatory

TL;DR

The Southern Wide-field Gamma-ray Observatory (SWGO) is a planned high-altitude water Cherenkov detector array in the Southern Hemisphere, aiming to detect gamma rays from hundreds of GeV to PeV energies and complement existing observatories.

Contribution

This paper presents the design, development, and future plans of SWGO, a new gamma-ray observatory to enhance the Southern Hemisphere's gamma-ray detection capabilities.

Findings

Evaluation of different detector configurations

Prototyping of water Cherenkov detectors

Site search and selection progress

Abstract

The Southern Wide-field Gamma-ray Observatory (SWGO) is an R&D project to plan and design the next observatory to detect gamma rays in the Southern hemisphere. The experiment, planned to be placed at an altitude greater than 4400 m, is primarily based on water Cherenkov detectors units and is expected to measure gamma rays from a few hundred GeV up to the PeV scale. SWGO will complement CTA and the existing ground-based particle detectors of the Northern Hemisphere, namely HAWC and LHAASO, having a rich science programme. The collaboration is highly invested in evaluating different detector and array configurations, prototyping, and site search. In this presentation, I shall present an overview of the project's activities, achievements and future plans.