33RD INTERNATIONAL COSMIC RAY CONFERENCE, RIO DE JANEIRO 2013 THE ASTROPARTICLE PHYSICS CONFERENCE Real-time AGN Flare Monitor for the HAWC Observatory

Abstract: The High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Observatory will commence scientific operation with the first 100 of 300 water Cherenkov detectors beginning in August of 2013. The large field of view instrument will provide a nearly continuous, unbiased survey of TeV emission from the northern hemisphere, making it ideally suited for detecting bright transient events such as outbursts from active galactic nuclei (AGN). Observations in the GeV and TeV energy regime can be used to probe the structure and emission mechanisms in AGN, and to further our understanding of how supermassive black holes accrete matter. Furthermore, gamma-ray observations of AGN are key to providing cosmological constraints to the diffuse extragalactic background radiation. The HAWC Collaboration is implementing a comprehensive, online flare-monitoring program to promptly detect bright outbursts from moderate-redshift AGN. This will provide unique opportunities to trigger follow-up observations at complimentary wavelengths (e.g., by Fermi or VERITAS). The high duty cycle (>90%) of the HAWC Observatory combined with its sensitivity to photon energies up to 100 TeV will allow us to extend the photon energy spectra of known AGN to the multi-TeV regime. Here, we discuss the various components of the flare-monitoring system, and present preliminary results from searches for AGN flares