KM3NeT Collaboration(Ageron, M. et al), Calvo, D., Coleiro, A., Colomer, M., Gozzini, S. R., Hernandez-Rey, J. J., et al. (2020). Dependence of atmospheric muon flux on seawater depth measured with the first KM3NeT detection units. Eur. Phys. J. C, 80(2), 99–11pp.
Abstract: KM3NeT is a research infrastructure located in the Mediterranean Sea, that will consist of two deep-sea Cherenkov neutrino detectors. With one detector (ARCA), the KM3NeT Collaboration aims at identifying and studying TeV-PeV astrophysical neutrino sources. With the other detector (ORCA), the neutrino mass ordering will be determined by studying GeV-scale atmospheric neutrino oscillations. The first KM3NeT detection units were deployed at the Italian and French sites between 2015 and 2017. In this paper, a description of the detector is presented, together with a summary of the procedures used to calibrate the detector in-situ. Finally, the measurement of the atmospheric muon flux between 2232-3386 m seawater depth is obtained.
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ANTARES Collaboration(Ageron, M. et al), Aguilar, J. A., Bigongiari, C., Dornic, D., Emanuele, U., Gomez-Gonzalez, J. P., et al. (2012). The ANTARES telescope neutrino alert system. Astropart Phys., 35(8), 530–536.
Abstract: The ANTARES telescope has the capability to detect neutrinos produced in astrophysical transient sources. Potential sources include gamma-ray bursts, core collapse supernovae, and flaring active galactic nuclei. To enhance the sensitivity of ANTARES to such sources, a new detection method based on coincident observations of neutrinos and optical signals has been developed. A fast online muon track reconstruction is used to trigger a network of small automatic optical telescopes. Such alerts are generated for special events, such as two or more neutrinos, coincident in time and direction, or single neutrinos of very high energy.
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ANTARES Collaboration(Adrian-Martinez, S. et al), Barrios-Marti, J., Hernandez-Rey, J. J., Illuminati, G., Sanchez-Losa, A., Tönnis, C., et al. (2016). Limits on dark matter annihilation in the sun using the ANTARES neutrino telescope. Phys. Lett. B, 759, 69–74.
Abstract: A search for muon neutrinos originating from dark matter annihilations in the Sun is performed using the data recorded by the ANTARES neutrino telescope from 2007 to 2012. In order to obtain the best possible sensitivities to dark matter signals, an optimisation of the event selection criteria is performed taking into account the background of atmospheric muons, atmospheric neutrinos and the energy spectra of the expected neutrino signals. No significant excess over the background is observed and 90% C.L. upper limits on the neutrino flux, the spin-dependent and spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross-sections are derived for WIMP masses ranging from 50 GeV to 5 TeV for the annihilation channels WIMP + WIMP -> b (b) over bar, W+W- and tau(+)tau(-).
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ANTARES Collaboration(Adrian-Martinez, S. et al), Barrios-Marti, J., Bou-Cabo, M., Hernandez-Rey, J. J., Sanchez-Losa, A., Tönnis, C., et al. (2016). A search for Secluded Dark Matter in the Sun with the ANTARES neutrino telescope. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 05(5), 016–13pp.
Abstract: A search for Secluded Dark Matter annihilation in the Sun using 2007-2012 data of the ANTARES neutrino telescope is presented. Three different cases are considered: a) detection of dimuons that result from the decay of the mediator, or neutrino detection from: b) mediator that decays into a dimuon and, in turn, into neutrinos, and c) mediator that decays directly into neutrinos. As no significant excess over background is observed, constraints are derived on the dark matter mass and the lifetime of the mediator.
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ANTARES Collaboration(Adrian-Martinez, S. et al), Barrios-Marti, J., Hernandez-Rey, J. J., Sanchez-Losa, A., Tönnis, C., Zornoza, J. D., et al. (2016). Constraints on the neutrino emission from the Galactic Ridge with the ANTARES telescope. Phys. Lett. B, 760, 143–148.
Abstract: A highly significant excess of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos has been reported by the IceCube Collaboration. Some features of the energy and declination distributions of IceCube events hint at a North/South asymmetry of the neutrino flux. This could be due to the presence of the bulk of our Galaxy in the Southern hemisphere. The ANTARES neutrino telescope, located in the Mediterranean Sea, has been taking data since 2007. It offers the best sensitivity to muon neutrinos produced by galactic cosmic ray interactions in this region of the sky. In this letter a search for an extended neutrino flux from the Galactic Ridge region is presented. Different models of neutrino production by cosmic ray propagation are tested. No excess of events is observed and upper limits for different neutrino flux spectral indices Gamma are set. For Gamma = 2.4 the 90% confidence level flux upper limit at 100 TeV for one neutrino flavour corresponds to phi(1f)(0) (100TeV) = 2.0 . 10(-17) GeV-1 cm(-2) s(-1) sr(-1). Under this assumption, at most two events of the IceCube cosmic candidates can originate from the Galactic Ridge. A simple power-law extrapolation of the Fermi-LAT flux to account for IceCube High Energy Starting Events is excluded at 90% confidence level.
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KM3NeT Collaboration(Adrian-Martinez, S. et al), Calvo Diaz-Aldagalan, D., Hernandez-Rey, J. J., Martinez-Mora, J. A., Real, D., Zornoza, J. D., et al. (2014). Deep sea tests of a prototype of the KM3NeT digital optical module. Eur. Phys. J. C, 74(9), 3056–8pp.
Abstract: The first prototype of a photo-detection unit of the future KM3NeT neutrino telescope has been deployed in the deepwaters of the Mediterranean Sea. This digital optical module has a novel design with a very large photocathode area segmented by the use of 31 three inch photomultiplier tubes. It has been integrated in the ANTARES detector for in-situ testing and validation. This paper reports on the first months of data taking and rate measurements. The analysis results highlight the capabilities of the new module design in terms of background suppression and signal recognition. The directionality of the optical module enables the recognition of multiple Cherenkov photons from the same (40)Kdecay and the localisation of bioluminescent activity in the neighbourhood. The single unit can cleanly identify atmospheric muons and provide sensitivity to the muon arrival directions.
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KM3NeT Collaboration(Adrian-Martinez, S. et al), Barrios-Marti, J., Calvo Diaz-Aldagalan, D., Hernandez-Rey, J. J., Real, D., Zornoza, J. D., et al. (2016). The prototype detection unit of the KM3NeT detector. Eur. Phys. J. C, 76(2), 54–12pp.
Abstract: A prototype detection unit of the KM3NeT deep-sea neutrino telescope has been installed at 3500m depth 80 km offshore the Italian coast. KM3NeT in its final configuration will contain several hundreds of detection units. Each detection unit is a mechanical structure anchored to the sea floor, held vertical by a submerged buoy and supporting optical modules for the detection of Cherenkov light emitted by charged secondary particles emerging from neutrino interactions. This prototype string implements three optical modules with 31 photomultiplier tubes each. These optical modules were developed by the KM3NeT Collaboration to enhance the detection capability of neutrino interactions. The prototype detection unit was operated since its deployment in May 2014 until its decommissioning in July 2015. Reconstruction of the particle trajectories from the data requires a nanosecond accuracy in the time calibration. A procedure for relative time calibration of the photomultiplier tubes contained in each optical module is described. This procedure is based on the measured coincidences produced in the sea by the K background light and can easily be expanded to a detector with several thousands of optical modules. The time offsets between the different optical modules are obtained using LED nanobeacons mounted inside them. A set of data corresponding to 600 h of livetime was analysed. The results show good agreement with Monte Carlo simulations of the expected optical background and the signal from atmospheric muons. An almost background-free sample of muons was selected by filtering the time correlated signals on all the three optical modules. The zenith angle of the selected muons was reconstructed with a precision of about 3 degrees.
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KM3NeT Collaboration(Adrian-Martinez, S. et al), Barrios-Marti, J., Calvo Diaz-Aldagalan, D., Hernandez-Rey, J. J., Illuminati, G., Lotze, M., et al. (2016). Letter of intent for KM3NeT 2.0. J. Phys. G, 43(8), 084001–130pp.
Abstract: The main objectives of the KM3NeT Collaboration are (i) the discovery and subsequent observation of high-energy neutrino sources in the Universe and (ii) the determination of the mass hierarchy of neutrinos. These objectives are strongly motivated by two recent important discoveries, namely: (1) the high-energy astrophysical neutrino signal reported by IceCube and (2) the sizable contribution of electron neutrinos to the third neutrino mass eigenstate as reported by Daya Bay, Reno and others. To meet these objectives, the KM3NeT Collaboration plans to build a new Research Infrastructure consisting of a network of deep-sea neutrino telescopes in the Mediterranean Sea. A phased and distributed implementation is pursued which maximises the access to regional funds, the availability of human resources and the synergistic opportunities for the Earth and sea sciences community. Three suitable deep-sea sites are selected, namely off-shore Toulon (France), Capo Passero (Sicily, Italy) and Pylos (Peloponnese, Greece). The infrastructure will consist of three so-called building blocks. A building block comprises 115 strings, each string comprises 18 optical modules and each optical module comprises 31 photo-multiplier tubes. Each building block thus constitutes a three-dimensional array of photo sensors that can be used to detect the Cherenkov light produced by relativistic particles emerging from neutrino interactions. Two building blocks will be sparsely configured to fully explore the IceCube signal with similar instrumented volume, different methodology, improved resolution and complementary field of view, including the galactic plane. One building block will be densely configured to precisely measure atmospheric neutrino oscillations.
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ANTARES Collaboration(Adrian-Martinez, S. et al), Barrios-Marti, J., Bigongiari, C., Emanuele, U., Gomez-Gonzalez, J. P., Hernandez-Rey, J. J., et al. (2014). A search for neutrino emission from the Fermi bubbles with the ANTARES telescope. Eur. Phys. J. C, 74(2), 2701–7pp.
Abstract: Analysis of the Fermi-LAT data has revealed two extended structures above and below the Galactic Centre emitting gamma rays with a hard spectrum, the so-called Fermi bubbles. Hadronic models attempting to explain the origin of the Fermi bubbles predict the emission of high-energy neutrinos and gamma rays with similar fluxes. The ANTARES detector, a neutrino telescope located in the Mediterranean Sea, has a good visibility to the Fermi bubble regions. Using data collected from 2008 to 2011 no statistically significant excess of events is observed and therefore upper limits on the neutrino flux in TeV range from the Fermi bubbles are derived for various assumed energy cutoffs of the source.
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ANTARES Collaboration(Adrian-Martinez, S. et al), Barrios-Marti, J., Bigongiari, C., Emanuele, U., Gomez-Gonzalez, J. P., Hernandez-Rey, J. J., et al. (2013). Search for muon neutrinos from gamma-ray bursts with the ANTARES neutrino telescope using 2008 to 2011 data. Astron. Astrophys., 559, A9–11pp.
Abstract: Aims. We search for muon neutrinos in coincidence with GRBs with the ANTARES neutrino detector using data from the end of 2007 to 2011. Methods. Expected neutrino fluxes were calculated for each burst individually. The most recent numerical calculations of the spectra using the NeuCosmA code were employed, which include Monte Carlo simulations of the full underlying photohadronic interaction processes. The discovery probability for a selection of 296 GRBs in the given period was optimised using an extended maximum-likelihood strategy. Results. No significant excess over background is found in the data, and 90% confidence level upper limits are placed on the total expected flux according to the model.
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