The ANTARES Neutrino Telescope: status and first results

TL;DR

The ANTARES neutrino telescope, located deep in the Mediterranean Sea, is the largest in the northern hemisphere and has begun producing initial scientific results from its first year of operation.

Contribution

This paper reports on the status and first results of the ANTARES neutrino telescope, the largest northern hemisphere detector utilizing seawater as a detection medium.

Findings

Operational detector with 12 lines and 900 modules

First year of data collection and analysis

Initial results demonstrating detection capabilities

Abstract

Completed in May 2008, the ANTARES neutrino telescope is located in the Mediterranean Sea, 40 km off the coast of Toulon, at a depth of about 2500 m. Consisting of 12 detector lines housing nearly 900 optical modules, the ANTARES telescope is currently the largest neutrino detector in the northern hemisphere. Utilising the Mediterranean Sea as a detecting medium, the detection principle of ANTARES relies on the observation of Cherenkov photons emitted by charged relativistic leptons, produced through neutrino interactions with the surrounding water and seabed, using a 3 dimensional lattice of photomultiplier tubes. In this paper we review the current status of the ANTARES experiment, highlighting some of the results from it's first year of full operation.