Search for TeV gamma-ray emission from Starburst Galaxies with wide-field-of-view instruments

Starburst galaxies are regions of intense star formation and dense gas, providing ideal environments for accelerating cosmic rays. When these cosmic rays interact with surrounding matter and radiation, they produce gamma rays through neutral pion decay, making starburst galaxies promising targets for TeV gamma-ray studies. Using data from the High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Observatory, we perform a joint likelihood (stacking) analysis of nearby starburst galaxies to search for cumulative TeV emission. Each galaxy’s expected contribution is weighted by its distance, infrared luminosity, and star formation rate. No significant excess is detected, and we derive 95% confidence upper limits on the total flux. We compare these upper limits with existing TeV measurements from H.E.S.S. for NGC 253, which is marginally observable by HAWC, and VERITAS for M 82, which lies outside HAWC’s field of view. These results illustrate the complementary sky coverage and highlight the potential of future wide-field observatories such as the Southern Wide-field Gamma-ray Observatory (SWGO) to study new sets of starburst galaxies in the Southern Hemisphere.