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    Search for TeV emission from spider millisecond pulsars with HAWC

    R. Alfaro1, E. Anita-Rangel2, M. Araya3, J. C. Arteaga-Velázquez4, D. Avila Rojas2, H. A. Ayala Solares5, R. Babu6, P. Bangale5, E. Belmont-Moreno1 et al. (HAWC Collaboration)

    E. Belmont-Moreno1, A. Bernal2, F. Calore7,*, T. Capistrán8, A. Carramiñana9, S. Casanova10, A. L. Colmenero-Cesar4, U. Cotti4, J. Cotzomi11, S. Coutiño de León12, E. De la Fuente13, P. Desiati12, N. Di Lalla14, R. Diaz Hernandez9, M. A. DuVernois12, J. C. Díaz-Vélez12, K. Engel15, T. Ergin6, C. Espinoza1, K. Fang12,†, N. Fraija2, S. Fraija2, J. A. García-González16, F. Garfias2, A. Galván-Gámez17, N. Ghosh18, A. Gonzalez Muñoz1, M. M. González2, J. A. González4, J. A. Goodman15, S. Groetsch12,‡, D. Guevel18, J. Gyeong19, J. P. Harding20, S. Hernández-Cadena21, I. Herzog6, D. Huang22, F. Hueyotl-Zahuantitla23, P. Hüntemeyer18, A. Iriarte2, S. Kaufmann24, D. Kieda25, K. Leavitt18, W. H. Lee2, H. León Vargas1, A. L. Longinotti2, G. Luis-Raya24, K. Malone20, S. Manconi7,26,§, O. Martinez11, J. Martínez-Castro27, J. A. Matthews28, P. Miranda-Romagnoli29, J. A. Morales-Soto4, M. Mostafá5, M. Najafi18, L. Nellen30, R. Noriega-Papaqui29, N. Omodei14, M. Osorio-Archila2, E. Ponce11, Y. Pérez Araujo1, C. D. Rho19, A. Rodriguez Parra4, D. Rosa-González9, M. Roth20, H. Salazar11, A. Sandoval1, M. Schneider15, J. Serna-Franco1, M. Shin19, Y. Son31, R. W. Springer25, O. Tibolla24, K. Tollefson6, I. Torres9, F. Ureña-Mena9, E. Varela11, X. Wang32, Z. Wang32, H. Wu12,∥, S. Yu33, X. Zhang10, H. Zhou21, and C. de León4 (HAWC Collaboration)

    • 1Instituto de Física, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico
    • 2Instituto de Astronomía, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico
    • 3Universidad de Costa Rica, San José 2060, Costa Rica
    • 4Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Morelia, Mexico
    • 5Temple University, Department of Physics, 1925 N. 12th Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19122, USA
    • 6Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA
    • 7Laboratoire d’Annecy-le-Vieux de Physique Théorique (LAPTh), CNRS, USMB, F-74940 Annecy, France
    • 8Università degli Studi di Torino, I-10125 Torino, Italy
    • 9Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrónica, Puebla, Mexico
    • 10Institute of Nuclear Physics Polish Academy of Sciences, PL-31342 IFJ-PAN, Krakow, Poland
    • 11Facultad de Ciencias Físico Matemáticas, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Puebla, Mexico
    • 12Dept. of Physics and Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center, University of Wisconsin—Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
    • 13Departamento de Física, Centro Universitario de Ciencias Exactase Ingenierias, Universidad de Guadalajara, Guadalajara, Mexico
    • 14Department of Physics, Stanford University: Stanford, California 94305–4060, USA
    • 15Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
    • 16Tecnologico de Monterrey, Escuela de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Ave. Eugenio Garza Sada 2501, Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico, 64849
    • 17Instituto de Física, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico
    • 18Department of Physics, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Michigan, USA
    • 19Department of Physics, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, South Korea
    • 20Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA
    • 21Tsung-Dao Lee Institute and School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Rd, Shanghai, SH 200240, China
    • 22Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware, USA
    • 23Universidad Autóónoma de Chiapas, Tuxtla Gutiéérrez, Chiapas, México
    • 24Universidad Politecnica de Pachuca, Pachuca, Hgo, Mexico
    • 25Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
    • 26Sorbonne Université and Laboratoire de Physique Théorique et Hautes Énergies (LPTHE), CNRS, 4 Place Jussieu, Paris, France
    • 27Centro de Investigación en Computación, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, México City, México
    • 28Dept of Physics and Astronomy, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
    • 29Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo, Pachuca, Mexico
    • 30Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico
    • 31University of Seoul, Seoul, Republic of Korea
    • 32Department of Physics, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, Missouri, USA
    • 33Department of Physics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA

    • *Contact author: francesca.calore@lapth.cnrs.fr
    • †Contact author: kefang@physics.wisc.edu
    • ‡Contact author: sjgroets@mtu.edu
    • §Contact author: manconi@lpthe.jussieu.fr
    • ∥Contact author: hwu298@wisc.edu
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    Phys. Rev. D 113, 083016 – Published 10 April, 2026

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/vczm-yqxq

    Abstract

    Millisecond pulsars (MSPs) are observed to emit multiwavelength radiation, from radio to GeV. Spider MSPs, which interact with their low-mass companion in close orbit (orbital periods <1  day), may lead to strong intrabinary shocks that can further accelerate electron and positron pairs produced in the magnetosphere, possibly emitting very-high-energy (0.1–100 TeV; VHE) photons through inverse Compton scattering. Using 2565 days of HAWC Pass 5 data, we search for VHE emission from spider MSPs and present upper limits on individual sources. We also perform a stacking analysis to examine whether the two sets of spider systems, classified as redbacks and black widows depending on the companion mass, exhibit different spectral properties. Our study places constraints on TeV emission from MSPs and suggests that they are unlikely to contribute significantly to the Galactic diffuse emission at TeV and higher energies.

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    Phys. Rev. D 113, 083016– Published 10 April, 2026
    • Received 20 December 2025
    • Accepted 23 March 2026
    Article part of CHORUS
    Accepted manuscript will be available starting 10 April, 2027.
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