Ultra-transparent Antarctic ice as a supernova detector

• Published in: Physical Review D
• Main Authors: Halzen, Francis, Jacobsen, J E, Zas, E
• Language: English
• Published: 1995
• Subjects: Astrophysics and Astronomy; Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.53.7359; http://cds.cern.ch/record/292811

We have simulated the response of a high energy neutrino telescope in deep Antarctic ice to the stream of low energy neutrinos produced by a supernova. The passage of a large flux of MeV-energy neutrinos during a period of seconds will be detected as an excess of single counting rates in all individual optical modules. We update here a previous estimate of the performance of such an instrument taking into account the recent discovery of absorption lengths of several hundred meters for near-UV photons in natural deep ice. The existing AMANDA detector can, even by the most conservative estimates, act as a galactic supernova watch.