Status of the Antares Neutrino Telescope
Abstract
The European ANTARES Collaboration aims to build and operate a large neutrino telescope in the Mediterranean Sea at 2400 m depth off the coast of France. The first installation step of this detector has been started at the end of 2002 by the deployment of the Junction Box at the end of the 40 km long main undersea cable linked to the Shore Station followed by the mooring of a prototype string and its operation in Spring 2003.
The Antares detector is due to be completed with roughly 1000 Optical Modules by the end of 2005. The angular resolution of this neutrino telescope is expected to be better than 0.3° for high energy neutrinos offering an important potential for background rejection and for the search for high energy neutrino fluxes coming from (extra-)galactic point-like sources. The Antares detector will have an energy threshold as low as 20 GeV for neutrinos and will thus be well suited for the search for neutrino fluxes due to neutralino dark matter annihilations in the core of the Earth in the Sun or the Galatic Centre.- Publication:
-
IAU Joint Discussion
- Pub Date:
- 2003
- Bibcode:
- 2003IAUJD...1E..21B