Development of multi-messenger real-time analyses for the KM3NeT neutrino telescope

• Main Author: Lincetto, Massimiliano
• Other Authors: Centre de Physique des Particules de Marseille (CPPM), Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Aix-Marseille Université, Jose Busto, Damien Dornic
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2020
• Subjects: Neutrino telescopes; Supernova neutrinos; Multi-messenger astronomy; Télescopes à neutrinos; Neutrinos de supernova; Astronomie multi-messager; [PHYS.HEXP]Physics [physics]/High Energy Physics - Experiment [hep-ex]; Orca
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-03109402; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-03109402v2/document; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-03109402v2/file/Lincetto___KM3NeT___PhD_Thesis___Final_v2.pdf

Since the discovery of the cosmic-ray radiation at the beginning of the 20th century, the hunt for their sources has been driving the research into the most energetic phenomena in the Universe. Astronomy has developed consequently, first with the exploration of the non-visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum known as multi-wavelength astronomy. The perspective has been widened further by multi-messenger astronomy, with the notable discoveries of gravitational waves and of the astrophysical neutrino flux. Neutrinos in particular emerge as a formidable cosmic messenger. Being light, neutral and weakly-interacting particles, they can travel unperturbed over cosmic distances, overcoming the limits of electromagnetic radiation (absorption) and charged particles (deflection by magnetic fields). Their emission is also especially revealing of the astrophysical properties of the source. For cosmic-ray source candidates, high-energy neutrinos would be an unequivocal signature of occurring hadronic acceleration processes. Whereas IceCube and ANTARES have observed the astrophysical neutrino flux, its origin is not yet established. In the special case of core-collapse supernovae, low-energy neutrinos carry more than 99% of the star gravitational energy and are believed to drive the explosion mechanism. These are observable only for galactic or near-galactic events, and only one event, SN 1987A, has been recorded since the beginning of the neutrino era. This scenario calls for the design and construction of a new generation of neutrino telescopes. By instrumenting two deep-sea sites with digital optical modules, for a total of ~ 200 000 photomultiplier tubes, the KM3NeT ORCA and ARCA detectors will address the open questions on the neutrino mass ordering and the sources of astrophysical neutrinos, respectively. The analyses presented in this thesis exploit the KM3NeT design by analysing the coincidences detected by the 31 PMTs of each optical module. The first part of this work consists of a measurement of the ...