SWGO: A Next-generation Ground-based Survey Instrument for Gamma-ray Astronomy

A collaboration of scientists across the globe is currently working on the development of the Southern Wide-field Gamma-ray Observatory (SWGO), a next-generation gamma-ray facility to be constructed in Chile. SWGO will provide wide field-of-view coverage with a high duty cycle for a large portion of the southern sky and complement observations of existing ground-based survey instruments in the Northern Hemisphere and of the Cherenkov Telescope Array which is scheduled to begin science operation in the near future. Recent discoveries by HAWC and LHAASO such as TeV gamma-ray halos associated with pulsars, >30 TeV gamma-ray emission from binary systems, tens of PeVatron candidates, and multi-TeV gamma-ray emission from a GRB, underscore the need for SWGO in the Southern Hemisphere, where no such wide field-of-view facility currently exists. We will present science drivers of the project and the performance of its baseline design measured against these science benchmarks corroborating the expectation that SWGO will have a transformational impact on a wide range of topics from cosmic-ray acceleration and transport to the nature of dark matter. We will show the project status and timeline, including progress made toward the construction of SWGO. The instrument will provide key information for multi-messenger astronomy in the next decade and have strong scientific synergies with other gamma-ray, cosmic-ray, neutrino, and gravitational-wave observatories.