The ANTARES Neutrino Telescope

TL;DR

The ANTARES neutrino telescope, located deep in the Mediterranean Sea, is the first operational undersea detector designed to observe high-energy cosmic neutrinos and expand the observational field to include down-going events.

Contribution

This paper describes the design, deployment, and scientific goals of the ANTARES neutrino telescope, highlighting its unique undersea location and detection capabilities.

Findings

Successful detection of Cherenkov light from neutrino interactions

Extended field of view to include down-going neutrino events

First undersea neutrino telescope operational

Abstract

At about 40 km off the coast of Toulon (France), anchored at 2475 m deep in the Mediterranean Sea, there is ANTARES: the first undersea neutrino telescope and the only one currently operating. The detector consists of 885 photomultiplier tubes arranged into 12 strings of 450-metres high, with the aim to detect the Cherenkov light induced by the charged superluminal interaction products of neutrinos. Its main scientific target is the search for high-energy (TeV and beyond) neutrinos from cosmic accelerators, as predicted by hadronic interaction models, and the measurement of the cosmic neutrino diffuse flux, focusing in particular on events coming from below the horizon (up-going events) in order to significantly reduce the atmospheric muons background. Thanks to the development of a strategy for the identification of neutrinos coming from above the horizon (down-going events) the field of view of the telescope will be extended.