The Energy Spectrum of Atmospheric Neutrinos between 2 and 200 TeV with the AMANDA-II Detector

TL;DR

This paper presents the first measurement of the atmospheric muon and anti-muon neutrino energy spectrum between 2 and 200 TeV using the AMANDA-II detector, comparing results with models and discussing future improvements with IceCube.

Contribution

It provides the first measurement of atmospheric neutrinos in the 2-200 TeV range and compares the results to existing models, confirming pion and kaon decay contributions.

Findings

Spectrum consistent with pion and kaon decay models

No significant charm or extraterrestrial neutrino contribution detected

Discussion on future improvements with IceCube

Abstract

The muon and anti-muon neutrino energy spectrum is determined from 2000-2003 AMANDA telescope data using regularised unfolding. This is the first measurement of atmospheric neutrinos in the energy range 2 - 200 TeV. The result is compared to different atmospheric neutrino models and it is compatible with the atmospheric neutrinos from pion and kaon decays. No significant contribution from charm hadron decays or extraterrestrial neutrinos is detected. The capabilities to improve the measurement of the neutrino spectrum with the successor experiment IceCube are discussed.