The Antares Neutrino Telescope Corey Reed, CPPM, France APS April Meeting, 2008, St. Louis Neutrino Astronomy The Antares Detector First Data from Antares Image from GEOS-8 experiment AGN illustration from Chandra experiment  Absorbed p Bent  Direct Absorption Deflection Δθ≃ 1𝑘𝑝𝑐∗2μ𝐺 10 19 𝑒𝑉 ≃ 12 𝑜 (proton) Detection principal When a neutrino interacts with a nucleus near the sea floor, a lepton is released. At high energies, the lepton Cherenkov radiates in the water. Antares observes this light, and uses it to reconstruct the lepton's trajectory and energy. Antares Data taking has begun During 2007, Antares took data with 5 lines in operation. Shown here is a reconstructed up-going muon. In this display, colors represent time and size represents the number of photons.  Cherenkov light cone Sea water Interaction below sea floor  Detector nearly complete Since December of 2007, Antares has been taking data with 10 lines in operation. Shown here are plots of the depth vs time of hits on each line. The lines represent the reconstructed muon trajectory. 900 photon detectors 12 lines. (10 already in place!) 25 floors per line. 3 optical modules per floor. Lines 400 meters high, 70 meters apart. 10” photomultipler tubes, with timing resolution ~0.4 ns! Understanding the detector Improved understanding of the detector is reflected in the accuracy of the simulations. Shown here is the event rate vs the number of hits used to formulate a trigger, in both MC (red) and data (black). What can be achieved? High energy  source studies Objects such as gamma ray bursts and active galactic nuclei are expected to produce high energy neutrinos. Measuring the neutrino flux from known sources would improve our understanding of the particle production and acceleration processes in such objects. GRB 080319B Image from NASA/Swift Searching for neutrinos Antares has reconstructed a large number muons. Shown here is the angular distribution of well reconstructed muons in data (black, 36.8 days live time) compared to simulated atmospheric muons (red) and neutrinos (blue). Under the Sea In the Mediterranean Antares is being constructed at a depth of -2500m off the coast of La Seyne-sur-Mer, France. Data is carried to shore via a 40 km cable. Dark matter searches Some proposed super-symmetric particles (like the neutralino) could be gravitationally trapped in the sun. The annihilation of these WIMPs can produce neutrinos. The detection of such neutrinos could not only reveal the existence of dark matter, but would also provide information about the properties of the WIMP. Image from NSSDC Observing showers Antares is able to measure electro-magnetic showers along the path of the muon. Shown here is the rate at which tracks are observed to have a given number of showers. See the talk by S. Mangano in session B8. Visible sky The visible sky of Antares (top) includes many possible neutrino sources (red points) and the galactic center. Compare to the visible sky at the South Pole (bottom). Neutrino flavor measurements Neutrino telescopes are capable of observing neutrinos of each flavor. Measuring the flux of neutrino flavors at Earth can lead to a better understanding of the neutrino oscillations, as well as neutrino production at the source. Phys.Rev.Lett.94:081801,2005 Finding low energy muons By measuring timing coincidences in OMs, Antares can measure the rate at which low energy muons are observed above background (right). Water properties The scattering length of blue light is longer in water (~50 m) than in ice (~20 m). This allows the trajectory of the lepton to be accurately reconstructed.