HAWC measurements of the Cosmic-ray Flux of three Giant Molecular Clouds

The characterization of the cosmic ray flux in the Galaxy can be obtained by combining the knowledge of the distribution of gas in the Galaxy and the observation of gamma-rays. We analyze the data from the HAWC Observatory to look for gamma rays in three giant molecular clouds that are part of the Gould Belt but that are far from the galactic plane (outside the region of ±5º in galactic latitude). We can then test the paradigm that the measured local cosmic-ray flux is the same as the “sea” of cosmic rays. Due to its large field of view, and high duty cycle, HAWC is suitable to search for gamma-rays from large structures in the TeV gamma-ray regime. We present here preliminary results for the flux measurements of the Aquila, Hercules and Taurus molecular clouds.