A Fast Algorithm for Muon Track Reconstruction and its Application to the ANTARES Neutrino Telescope

TL;DR

This paper introduces a rapid and robust algorithm for reconstructing upward-going muon tracks induced by neutrinos, enabling real-time event discrimination and supporting multi-messenger astrophysics with the ANTARES telescope.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel fast reconstruction algorithm specifically designed for real-time processing in neutrino telescopes like ANTARES.

Findings

Algorithm achieves high accuracy in muon track reconstruction.

Effective discrimination between neutrino-induced and atmospheric muon events.

Validated performance through Monte Carlo simulations and ANTARES data comparisons.

Abstract

An algorithm is presented, that provides a fast and robust reconstruction of neutrino induced upward-going muons and a discrimination of these events from downward-going atmospheric muon background in data collected by the ANTARES neutrino telescope. The algorithm consists of a hit merging and hit selection procedure followed by fitting steps for a track hypothesis and a point-like light source. It is particularly well-suited for real time applications such as online monitoring and fast triggering of optical follow-up observations for multi-messenger studies. The performance of the algorithm is evaluated with Monte Carlo simulations and various distributions are compared with that obtained in ANTARES data.