A measurement of the cosmic-ray muon flux with a module of the NESTOR neutrino telescope

Aggouras, G.; Anassontzis, E.G.; Ball, A.E.; Bourlis, G.; Chinowsky, W.; Fahrun, E.; Grammatikakis, G.; Green, C.; Grieder, P. K. F.; Katrivanos, P.; Koske, P.; Leisos, A.; Markopoulos, Evangelos; Minkowsky, P.; Nygren, D. R.; Papageorgiou, K.; Przybylski, G. T.; Resvanis, L. K.; Siotis, I.; Sopher, J.; Staveris-Polikalas, A.; Tsagli, V.; Tsirigotis, A.; Жуков, В.

doi:10.1016/j.astropartphys.2005.02.001

Cited by 96 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Even though angular distributions of atmospheric muons have been published by practically all largevolume neutrino detectors and prototypes [75,76,77,78,79,80,81,82], none of the measurements is accurate enough to provide a strict external constraint. For the time being, there is no other choice than to note the effect and continue to investigate possible explanations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization of the atmospheric muon flux in IceCube

Aartsen¹,

Abraham²,

Ackermann³

et al. 2016

Astroparticle Physics

101

117

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Muons produced in atmospheric cosmic ray showers account for the by far dominant part of the event yield in large-volume underground particle detectors. The IceCube detector, with an instrumented volume of about a cubic kilometer, has the potential to conduct unique investigations on atmospheric muons by exploiting the large collection area and the possibility to track particles over a long distance. Through detailed reconstruction of energy deposition along the tracks, the characteristics of muon bundles can be quantified, and individual particles of exceptionally high energy identified. The data can then be used to constrain the cosmic ray primary flux and the contribution to atmospheric lepton fluxes from prompt decays of short-lived hadrons.In this paper, techniques for the extraction of physical measurements from atmospheric muon events are described and first results are presented. The multiplicity spectrum of TeV muons in cosmic ray air showers for primaries in the energy range from the knee to the ankle is derived and found to be consistent with recent results from surface detectors. The single muon energy spectrum is determined up to PeV energies and shows a clear indication for the 2 emergence of a distinct spectral component from prompt decays of short-lived hadrons. The magnitude of the prompt flux, which should include a substantial contribution from light vector meson di-muon decays, is consistent with current theoretical predictions.The variety of measurements and high event statistics can also be exploited for the evaluation of systematic effects. In the course of this study, internal inconsistencies in the zenith angle distribution of events were found which indicate the presence of an unexplained effect outside the currently applied range of detector systematics. The underlying cause could be related to the hadronic interaction models used to describe muon production in air showers.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization of the atmospheric muon flux in IceCube

Aartsen¹,

Abraham²,

Ackermann³

et al. 2016

Astroparticle Physics

101

117

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Its operation was terminated due to a failure of the cable to shore. Data taken with this prototype demonstrated the detector functionality and provided a measurement of the atmospheric muon flux [30].…”

Section: Mediterranean Projects: Nestor Antares Nemomentioning

confidence: 99%

High-energy neutrino astronomy: a glimpse of the promised land

Spiering¹

2014

Phys.-Usp.

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In 2012, physicists and astronomers celebrated the hundredth anniversary of the detection of cosmic rays by Viktor Hess. One year later, in 2013, there was first evidence for extraterrestrial highenergy neutrinos, i.e. for a signal which may contain key information on the origin of cosmic rays. That evidence is provided by data taken with the IceCube neutrino telescope at the South Pole. First concepts to build a detector of this kind have been discussed at the 1973 International Cosmic Ray Conference. Nobody would have guessed at that time that the march towards first discoveries would take forty years, the biblical time of the march from Egypt to Palestine. But now, after all, the year 2013 has provided us a first glimpse to the promised land of the neutrino universe at highest energies. This article sketches the evolution towards detectors with a realistic discovery potential, describes the recent relevant results obtained with the IceCube and ANTARES neutrino telescopes and tries a look into the future.

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“…After a two-decade-long effort, building the Deep Underwater Muon and Neutrino Detector (DUMAND) in the sea off the main island of Hawaii unfortunately failed [34]. However, DUMAND pioneered many of the detector technologies in use today and inspired the deployment of a smaller instrument in Lake Baikal [35] as well as efforts to commission neutrino telescopes in the Mediterranean [36,37,38]. These have paved the way toward the planned construction of KM3NeT [39].…”

Section: Icecube: the First Kilometer-scale Neutrino Detectormentioning

confidence: 99%

The Successful Story of Neutrino Telescopes

Halzen¹

2016

Proceedings of XVI International Workshop on Neutrino Telescopes — PoS(NEUTEL2015)

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We review the rationale for building kilometer-scale neutrino detectors and briefly describe the first such instrument, IceCube. It has transformed one cubic kilometer of natural Antarctic ice into a Cherenkov detector that maps the light patterns radiated by the secondary particles produced in neutrino interactions. We discuss the discovery of cosmic neutrinos and reappraise the properties of the flux after the recent doubling of the data from two to four years. We conclude that the flux is isotropic with a flavor composition of 1:1:1 and therefore most likely extragalactic in origin. It is large by any measure and consistent with a neutrino flux from sources that release a similar amount of energy in photons and, possibly, cosmic rays. Strikingly, the photon flux accompanying IceCube neutrinos is, after cascading through the extragalactic background light, consistent with the high-energy gamma-ray flux observed by Fermi. This observation suggests common sources, which should ease the task of identifying the cosmic accelerators producing IceCube neutrinos. We will argue that event rates of hundreds rather than tens per year are desirable for launching a new era of astronomy. Building a detector that instruments ten cubic kilometers of ice is realistic and, as a result of the large absorption length of the ice revealed by IceCube, comparable in scope to the original project.

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A measurement of the cosmic-ray muon flux with a module of the NESTOR neutrino telescope

Cited by 96 publications

References 7 publications

Characterization of the atmospheric muon flux in IceCube

Characterization of the atmospheric muon flux in IceCube

High-energy neutrino astronomy: a glimpse of the promised land

The Successful Story of Neutrino Telescopes

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