The AMANDA Neutrino Telescope

TL;DR

The AMANDA Neutrino Telescope is a pioneering high-energy neutrino detector using deep ice, demonstrating calibration and performance capabilities with a large effective area and good pointing accuracy for neutrino astronomy.

Contribution

This paper introduces the AMANDA detector, the first of a new generation of neutrino telescopes, and reports initial calibration and performance results.

Findings

Effective area of about 10^4 m^2 for TeV neutrinos

Pointing accuracy of 2.5 degrees per muon track

Successful calibration of deep ice as a particle detector

Abstract

With an effective telescope area of order $10^4$ m$^2$ for TeV neutrinos, a threshold near $\sim$50 GeV and a pointing accuracy of 2.5 degrees per muon track, the AMANDA detector represents the first of a new generation of high energy neutrino telescopes, reaching a scale envisaged over 25 years ago. We describe early results on the calibration of natural deep ice as a particle detector as well as on AMANDA's performance as a neutrino telescope.