Registration of atmospheric neutrinos with the BAIKAL Neutrino Telescope NT-96

Abstract

We present first neutrino induced events observed with a deep underwater neutrino telescope. Data from 70 days effective life time of the BAIKAL prototype telescope NT-96 have been analyzed with two different methods. With the standard track reconstruction method, 9 clear upward muon candidates have been identified, in good agreement with 8.7 events expected from Monte Carlo calculations for atmospheric neutrinos. The second analysis is tailored to muons coming from close to the opposite zenith. It yields 4 events, compared to 3.5 from Monte Carlo expectations. From this we derive a 90% upper flux limit of 1.1 · 10 −13 cm −2 sec −1 for muons in excess of those expected from atmospheric neutrinos with zenith angle > 150 degrees and energy > 10 GeV.

Energy calibration of large underwater detectors using stopping muons

“…Requirement i) may reduce the sensitive volume of the detector for this task but is unlikely to make the energy calibration impossible. (Note, that the Baikal energy threshold has been estimated as 10 GeV [1] which is well matched to our requirements). The requirement ii) is the most important.…”

“…Several large neutrino telescopes have been proposed and are being deployed deep under water or under ice [1,2,3,4]. They are designed to measure the fluxes and spectra of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos by detecting muons produced via neutrino-nucleus interactions.…”

Studies on neutrino Earth radiography

“…After the first generation of telescopes which has proved the feasibility of the Cerenkov detection technique under deep water (Balkanov et al, 1999) and ice (Ahrens et al, 2002) by detecting atmospheric neutrinos, we are likely approaching the first detections at the IceCube (Ahrens et al, 2004) telescope, being completed at the South Pole, and possibly at the smaller ANTARES (Spurio, 2006) telescope under construction in the Mediterranean. Moreover, ANTARES as well as NESTOR (Aggouras et al, 2006) and NEMO (Migneco et al, 2008) are involved in R&D projects aimed at the construction of a km 3 NT in the deep water of the Mediterranean sea, coordinated in the European network KM3NeT (Katz, 2006).…”

High energy neutrinos to see inside the Earth

“…For this reason the experimental community is undertaking a relevant effort to construct giant Neutrino Telescopes (NT's). From this point of view, after the first generation of telescopes has proved the viability of the Cerenkov detection tech- nique under deep water (Balkanov et al, 1999) and ice (Ahrens et al, 2002) by detecting atmospheric neutrinos, one is probably on the verge of the first detections at the IceCube (Ahrens et al, 2004) telescope, being completed at the South Pole, and possibly at the smaller ANTARES (Spurio, 2006) telescope under construction in the Mediterranean. Additionally, ANTARES as well as NESTOR (Aggouras et al, 2006) and NEMO (Migneco et al, 2008) are involved in R&D projects aimed at the construction of a km 3 NT in the deep water of the Mediterranean sea, coordinated in the European network KM3NeT (Katz, 2006).…”